


Danganronpa All Stars: Shine of Hope

by Nepsty



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:00:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23032108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nepsty/pseuds/Nepsty
Summary: 18 girls find themselves in the school of their dreams, only to find that it is completely run-down. But that's not the worst of their problems. Monokuma has started yet another killing game. Who will survive; who will die? Follow Chika as she tries to save her friends.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20





	1. Prologue

Chika awoke to complete darkness. As she attempted to move, a strong pain ran through her head. She started to feel her head but couldn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. No bumps, no scratches, just her hair. That’s when she heard footsteps.

“Wh-who’s there?” She called out.

“Chika?” The voice responded. This voice sounded very familiar to Chika. So she sat up and thought for just a moment, when she realized who this voice belonged to.

“...Riko? Is that you?”

“Ah Chika! It is you! I’m trying to find a light switch, but I can’t find it anywhere…” Riko responded. However, moments later, the room lit up. That was when both Chika and Riko saw You standing by the light switch.

“You!” Chika called out.

“Chika, Riko! Thank goodness you’re safe. Where are we?” You asked the two.

The three of them looked around the room from where they were. “...A classroom?” Chika spoke. “This classroom seems kinda familiar, but I can’t place my finger on it.” Chika says as she finally stands up.

“I feel the same way.” Riko says as she starts walking around the classroom to take a look around. “It seems… old. The metals are rusted and there are vines growing out of the walls. Just where exactly is this?”

You walked over to the windows and pulled the curtains back to see the windows are covered by a cage. “Wh-- Why are their bars on the windows?” She grabbed the bars and tried to pull on them, but they just wouldn’t budge.

Chika noticed a notebook on the desk at the top of the classroom. She approached it and then picked it up. “Eh? Wait this can’t be right!”

Riko turned to Chika. “What can’t be right?”

“This… This place is Nijigasaki High School!”

“That’s impossible. Look how rundown this place is!” You retorts.

“I-I know but… Here, just take a look at the picture on this notebook.”

Riko and You walked up to the desk to take a look at the picture. “What the!? It looks exactly like this classroom just not rundown.” You commented, surprised.

“That’s right, I remember now. We were selected to join this high school due to our talents.” Riko says as she begins to remember. Saying this, sparked a memory in You.

“That’s right! If I’m correct, I was **[The Ultimate Sailor]**.”

“And I was **[The Ultimate Pianist]**.” Riko responded.

“I was The Ultimate… Uhh… Agh! I can’t remember what I was!” Chika frustratingly rubbed her head. “The Ultimate… The Ultimate… The Ultimate what!?”

“H-hey, calm down Chika!” Riko attempted to calm her down. “I’m sure it’ll come back to you, so don’t worry.”

“Do you neither of you two remember my talent either?” Chika asked them, to which they both shook their heads.

“Listen, let’s forget about that for now, let’s just get out of here and figure out what happened to this place. It gives me the heebie jeebies.” You said to them.

“You’s right Chika, let’s leave here.”

Chika sighed. “Y-yeah okay, I guess that’s for the best.” After having said that, Chika dropped the notebook back onto the desk and the three of them made their way to the classroom’s door. Chika reached out to turn the knob but… “E-eh? It’s locked.”

“We’re locked in?” Riko then attempted to open the door. “Ah, she’s right.”

You then cracked her knuckles. “Step back, I got this.” Chika and Riko quickly stepped aside. After doing so, You charged at the door. They could hear the door crack, but it wasn’t quite open yet. “Let me try that again.” You walked back farther than she had been. She then charged at the door and rammed it with her shoulder, breaking it clear off of the hinges.

“You did it!” Chika yelled happily. “Okay let’s get the heck outta here.” Chika said as she helped You up. The three exited the room to find a corridor that was as run down as the classroom they had just been in.

“Here too…” Riko said as she started to worry a little bit. “Maybe we should stay in the classroom?” She suggested. However, You immediately blew off that idea.

“We can’t just sit around. If something went wrong here, then we need to get out as soon as possible. So instead of waiting around, I’d rather run into the unknown and take our chances. You agree, right Chika?”

Chika stared down the dark corridor. “Y-yeah, sorry Riko, but I think You is right. It might be dangerous to stick around.”

Riko sighed. “Okay then, but let’s stick close together, okay? I don’t want us to get separated.”

“Agreed.” You said to her and began to lead the way. As they were walking down, they noticed a couple of things.

“Hey look.” Riko spoke and then pointed to a sign next to another door. “That classroom is class 1-B and the one just ahead is class 1-A. I guess that means we were in class 1-C.”

“A first year class? Doesn’t that seem kinda strange? We were supposed to be going into our second year.” You pointed out.

“I don’t think it matters all that much anyway, right? Let’s just go before someone shows up.” Chika suggested, so the three continued onwards. After what seemed like eternity, they came across a door with a light shining through. “Over there, look.” Chika pointed to the door.

“Stay here.” You told them as she went to investigate. She looked through the crack of the door and that’s when she saw a bunch of other students. “Hey you two, come here. There are other students in there.”

Chika and Riko went over to the door and peered inside. “Should we go in?” Riko asked.

“Could be a trap.” You told her.

“It could also be other students that need help.” Chika suggested as she opened the door and walked in. The other two quickly followed her. As they entered, the other students turned and looked at them.

“Hm? So those are three that were late.” An orange haired girl spoke upon seeing them.

“Eh? Late?” Chika responded.

“Unforgivable! I will make sure you three are punished accordingly!” A dark haired girl with a mole on her face spoke loudly.

“S-sis please… You don’t need to yell at them.” A shorter girl with red hair said to the other.

“But Ruby, they were late! They need to be punished for it.”

“But Dia, class hasn’t even started yet.”

Dia sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” She turned back to Chika, You and Riko. “So why are you three late anyway?”

“What do you mean late? What are we late for?” Chika asked them.

“Orientation.” The orange haired girl from before said to them.

“Orientation? We just woke up in a rundown classroom and wandered in here.” Chika tells her.

“Ah, so you too?” A tall blonde girl said to them. “We also woke up in random places. We all ended up here too.” She explained.

“So what exactly is going on here?” You asked.

“This is Nijigasaki High School.” Dia said to them. “We’re not sure why we woke up in random places but…”

“I bet it’s a test!” A black haired girl with a robe draped over her spoke up. “Clearly a demon is testing us to see if we’re worthy! Unlucky for them, I Yohane, **[The Ultimate Demon]** cannot fail such a simple test!”

“The Ultimate Demon, zura? Yohane? Isn’t your name Yoshiko and aren’t you **[The Ultimate Occultist]**?” A short girl with light brown hair spoke.

“H-Hanamaru! I told you not to call me that! And here I thought I could trust you!”

“But we only just met an hour ago zura.”

“Wait an hour ago? Then why did we only wake up now?” Riko asked them.

“Yoshiko and I--”

“Yohane!”

“Yoshiko and I were the first to arrive, zura.” Hanamaru explained. “Then Ruby and Dia showed up.”

“Ah, Umi, Kotori and myself arrived after them. Oh, my name is Honoka, I’m **[The Ultimate Lucky Student]**.” The orange haired girl explained.

A girl with ash brown hair with a loop tied up with a pink ribbon steps forward. “I’m Kotori Minami, **[The Ultimate Seamstress]** and this here is Umi Sonoda **[The Ultimate Archer]**.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Umi said, greeting them.

A girl with short orange hair struck a pose. “My name is Rin Hoshizora, I’m **[The Ultimate Track Star]**! This cutie here is my best friend Hanayo Koizumi!”

“H-hello, I’m Hanayo, **[The Ultimate Fangirl]**.”

“The Ultimate Fangirl?” Chika asked.

“Ah y-yes, I’m a big fan of idols. I have a very large collection of memorabilia.” Hanayo explained.

A short black haired girl with twin tails steps forward. “Then surely you know me, **[The Ultimate Idol]**.”

“Ah yes! You’re Nico Yazawa!” Hanayo ran over to her. “I’m a huge fan of yours! Can I have your autograph?”

Nico chuckled. “Of course, I will give an autograph to anyone who desires it! Would anyone else like one?”

“I’m Maki Nishikino, **[The Ultimate Doctor]**. As much as I don’t want to be a doctor, that’s what I’m best at.”

“H-hey, don’t interrupt me!” Nico yelled at her. “As I was saying…”

“I’m Eli Ayase, **[The Ultimate Ballerina]**.”

“Y-you’re Eli Ayase!?” Dia said loudly. “I knew I recognized you! I’m a big fan of yours! I’m Dia Kurosawa **[The Ultimate Moral Compass]**! This here is my little sister, Ruby Kurosawa.”

“S-sis! I-I’m Ruby, I’m **[The Ultimate Baker]**.”

“My name is Nozomi Toujou, I’m **[The Ultimate Fortuneteller]**. I see both good and bad things in your future.”

“I’m Hanamaru Kunikida, zura. I’m **[The Ultimate Librarian]**.”

“Bonjourno! I’m Mari Ohara, **[The Ultimate Affluent Progeny]** ! This here is Kanan Matsuura, she’s **[The Ultimate Swimmer]**!”

“My name is chika Takami, this here is You Watanabe, **[The Ultimate Sailor]** and Riko Sakurauchi, **[The Ultimate Pianist]**.”

“And what about you?” Nico asked Chika.

“Me? Well… That’s the thing. I don’t really remember what my talent is.”

“You don’t remember?” Kanan said to her.

“Nope! I’m afraid not. In fact, the only memories I even have is that I was meant to be a student here, my friends and my family. Other than that, I don’t really know anything else.”

“That’s a bit suspicious.” Dia commented.

“Eh? How so?”

“All of our memories are blurry, yet we still remember our ultimate talents. Why do you not know yours? Are you hiding it from us? Perhaps you’re **[The Ultimate Rule Breaker]**?”

“Sis that’s a bit out there…” Ruby said to Dia.

“What does it matter anyway?” You asked. “Look, it’s as you guys said, all of you just woke up here like us. So what’s the meaning of this? Why is the school so rundown and why are we all actually here?”

“I can answer that.” A loud voice echoed throughout the room. Suddenly, the lights went out and a stagelight turned on at the back of the room where a podium was. Out of seemingly nowhere, a small black and white stuffed bear jumped up to the podium. “Tada!!”

“Eh? Who owns the cute bear and how are you making it talk!?” Honoka said excitedly.

“Nobody is making me talk! I’m talking by myself, I'll have you know!” The bear responded.

“Now I’m even more confused…” Riko commented.

“Allow me to explain. My name is Monokuma, the headmaster of Nijigasaki High School!”

“Headmaster?” Nozomi asked confused.

“That’s right girly. This is Nijigasaki High School. Or well I guess, it _was_ Nijigasaki!”

“So it’s not anymore?” Chika asked Monokuma, confused.

“Nope! I decided to take over the school, because well, I can just run it better!”

“Run it better? This place is a disaster nya!” Rin angrily said to Monokuma.

“Well duh, you stupid flat chested boy!” Monokuma shouted at her.

“B-boy!?”

“Now if you’ll actually let me continue!” Monokuma clears his throat. “Welcome to Nijigasaki High School, or, well I guess your new home. For the time being at least! You’ve all been invited here to take part in a very important game.”

“A game? We came here to study and improve our talents, not play some dumb game.”

“Ah how typical of Dia Kurosawa, **[The Ultimate Moral Compass]** , always thinking about school and nothing actually fun. Sorry to disappoint Ms. Kurosawa, but this is going to be a fun school! For me at least upupupu!”

“What does that even mean?” Eli asked him.

“Upupupu, well the game we’re playing is… A killing game! Bwahaha!”

“A-a killing game?” Umi’s eyes widened upon hearing that.

“That’s right! You’re all locked up in here now, and there’s only one way out… To kill one of your classmates.”

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” Maki asked him.

“Nope! In order to go back to the outside world, you’ll have to kill a fellow classmate and prove that you’re completely innocent to fool everyone around you in a class trial. Should you not be caught? Well then I’ll set you and only you free!”

“As if!” Chika yelled. “There’s no way anyone here is going to kill someone just to play your silly game!”

“Upupupu! You brat, you act like you have a choice. But there’s nowhere you can escape to.”

“I’m sure we’ll find a way!”

“Nope! Not gonna happen! All the windows are barred. There’s no getting in or out of here!”

“That explains the bars on the windows.” You sighed.

“Now, instead of explaining the rules…” Monokuma takes out a box and places it on the floor and opens it up. “Inside here are your e-Hanbooks! They have all the rules of the game and they have each student’s information. From name, age, height, weight, bust size and yes, even your talents! I’d recommend you take the one that belongs to you and read the rules. There’s a lot of them and they’re all very important upupupu!”

Dia walked up to the box. “I’ll hand them out to everyone then.” Dia picked them up and one by one handed them out to each student and then finally took her own one. “Now to see if Chika was lying, I’ll go ahead and check what her talent is.” Dia immediately goes to Chika’s information page. “What? This is… **[The Ultimate ???]**!? That makes no sense!”

“Does that mean she doesn’t have a talent?” Hanayo asked.

“No! All it means is I’m keeping that talent a secret!” Monokuma yells.

“But why? Is it something significant?” Mari asked him.

“Significant for me, not for you. Just ignore it, it’s not important your moronic tsundere!”

“Ts-tsundere?” Maki was taken aback by that insult.

Nico just laughed at it.

“I’m checking the rules.” Chika said as she went to the rules section. Okay let’s see here…” Chika began to list out the rules, which go as following:

_1\. Students are required to cohabitate at Nijigasaki High School for the remainder of the unforeseeable future._

_2\. When a murder is committed in the school, a class trial will be conducted. Participation in this trial is mandatory for all surviving students._

_3\. If the killer (here in after referred to as "the blackened") is correctly identified during the class trial, only the blackened will be punished for their crime._

_4\. If the blackened cannot be identified, or if an incorrect student is identified as the blackened, all students except the blackened will be punished for the crime._

_5\. If the blackened survives the class trial, they are declared the winner. At which point, they will graduate from the Ultimate Academy and re-enter the outside world._

_6\. If innocent students (hereinafter referred to as "the spotless") continue to survive class trials, the killing game will continue until only two students remain._

_7\. "Nighttime" is officially designated as the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. During this time, the dining hall and gymnasium are closed._

_8\. All acts of violence toward Monokuma, the headmaster of the Nijigasaki High School, are strictly prohibited._

_9\. Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder._

_10\. Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly._

_11\. Your e-Handbooks are very important items. Make sure you do not damage them._

_12\. A body discovery announcement will occur when three or more students discover a body._

_13\. Students have free rein to explore Nijigasaki High School as they see fit._

_14\. Students who violate these rules will be exterminated by Monokuma himself._

_15\. Swimming is prohibited in the pool during nighttime. Touching the water is also against the school rules._

_16\. The headmaster may add additional regulations to this list at any time._

“This is insane…” Kotori commented. “Why would you do this to us!?” She yelled.

“Why? Because it’s fun! You stupid cosplayer!”

“I’m not a cosplayer!”

“You make costumes, you might as well be one! Now shut up so I can talk! Beyond this door behind me is the rest of the first floor. This contains each of your dorm rooms. Your names will be on the doors. Beyond them is the dining hall and the kitchen. Even further beyond them, is each student’s individual lab. Back where you all entered from are classrooms 1-A, 1-B, 1-C, the Church, Library and Swimming Pool. This room here is the Gymnasium, it’s where I’ll host all of my announcements upupupu!”

“What do you mean by labs?” Chika asked him.

“Each student here has a lab relating to their talent. Some of them are just beyond the kitchen. However, not all of you will find your lab here. Some labs are on other floors. But in order to get to other floors… Upupupu… You’ll have to kill someone!”

“Like I said before, that won’t happen! Eventually someone will come and save us!”

“Hmm, not likely! Even if anyone did try to save you, there is a large metal door at the entrance that can only be activated by me! The only way I’ll activate it is if someone kills someone and makes it out of the trial alive.”

“You monster…” Chika scowled.

“Have fun~” After saying that, Monokuma disappeared.

“Kanan I’m scared!” Mari yelled and then threw her arms around Kanan.

“Don’t worry Mari. We’ll find a way out of this…” Kanan said with a worried tone. “But what do we do right now?”

“I’ll take charge.” Dia said loudly. “First of all, everyone take a look around. Try and see if you can find a way out of this school. Report back here when you’re finished your search! Split into groups of three. To make things easier, go with your own year groups. I’m a third year so I guess I’d take two other third years with me. Those being Kanan and Mari. Now hurry up and get into your groups, we’ll meet back here in an hour.”

Under Dia’s order, everyone broke into groups of three.Those groups are:

Chika, You and Riko

Honoka, Umi and Kotori

Dia, Mari and Kanan

Nico, Eli and Nozomi

Hanayo, Rin and Maki

Ruby, Hanamaru and Yoshiko

Chika, You and Riko decided to check the classroom there were in before. “Is there much of a point in checking this room? We already didn’t find anything.” Chika told them.

“Maybe not, but we just found the door and then You busted it open for us. Maybe this time we can have a proper look around?” Riko suggested.

“Hmm, I guess there’s no harm in doing so.” Chika shrugged and began looking around. The trio however hardly had any luck in finding any way to escape. However, before giving up on their search and returning to the gymnasium, Chika discovered something strange. “Hey you guys, over here, look!” Chika points to a tiny hole in the wall, only as big as maybe a finger tip.

“It looks like it’s a hole into class 1-B.” You said as she peered through the hole. “That classroom looks pristine compared to this one. Let’s go check that class out.” You suggested.

The three of them went to the classroom door, however upon trying to open it… “It’s locked.” Riko said as she attempted to turn the knob.

“Alright ladies, my time to shine again!” You rams the door with her should multiple times and manages to get this one open too. “Got it! Let’s check it out.” The three entered the classroom and all they could see was photos of themselves plastered on the wall.

“What is all of this?” Chika asked as she looked at the photos. There were photos of each student, both alone and in groups. “This doesn’t make sense, we’ve never met these people before, how are we suddenly in so many photos together?”

“Surely it’s photoshop… right?” Riko said to them.

_Meanwhile in class 1-A, Honoka, Umi and Kotori are looking around._

“Maaaan this sucks, I just wanna go home…” Honoka complained.

“We all do Honoka. But maybe if you didn’t just put your head down on the desk and actually helped us look around, we could find a way out of here quicker? That way you can go home.” Umi explained.

“Yeah… I guess. Some talent I have, I’m not really very lucky am I?”

Kotori giggled at that. “Don’t worry Honoka, maybe it just means you’ll get out of here alive! With the Ultimate Lucky Student on our side, we can’t fail!”

“You know what Kotori? You’re absolutely right! I’ll find a way out of here!” Honoka declared as she suddenly started looking around.

_Meanwhile, Dia, Mari and Kanan were at the Swimming Pool._

“Leave nothing unturned. We must find a way out of here.” Dia ordered.

“Yes your highness~” Mari giggled and started to look around.

Kanan didn’t waste her time responding to Dia and had already started to look around. But she quickly discovers something. There are a row of lockers at the back end of the swimming pool. Kanan began to open them all, but one of them wouldn’t open. As she went to touch it, she got an electric shock. “Ouch!”

“What happened Kanan?” Mari asked her.

“This locker, I can’t touch it. It shocks me when I do.” She explained. Mari and Dia quickly made their way over. Both Mari and Dia attempted to touch it and got nothing but shocks too. “Ouchie!” Mari yelped. “Stupid locker!” Then she attempted to kick it, which just led to yet another electric shock. “What is going on here!?”

“How strange… That Monokuma must be hiding something in there. But for now, that doesn’t matter, we need to keep looking around.” Dia said as she walked away from the locker.

_Meanwhile at the Library._

Ruby, Hanamaru and Yoshiko were investigating… Well, investigating is a strong word. Hanamaru was enamoured by all the books and Yoshiko was looking for books about black magic. Meanwhile Ruby found plenty of cookbooks. “Wow so many recipes! I wanna try making them all…”

“Wow, look at this! This library even has books about the legendary Cthulhu! I think I’m in love!” Yoshiko said as she grabbed the book. “I’ll be taking this.”

“Ahem! Yoshiko, it is not polite to steal books from the library.” Hanamaru explained.

“Eh? What does it matter anyway? It’s not like anyone in this school is going to come here again anyway after we get out.”

Hanamaru grabbed the book off of Yoshiko. “You may rent the book, not steal it.” She said as she returned the book to its correct place on the shelf. “Now look around and find a way out, zura.”

_Meanwhile at the church._

Nico, Eli and Nozomi entered the large church. The first thing that catches their attention is the fact that even the stained glass has bars around them. “Even that high up huh?” Eli pointed out. “I suppose even if they were that high up, we could potentially use them as escape points so I guess he blocked them anyway.”

“How strange, they have a Christian church here in the school, but nothing for people who play to other gods. I thought we might have a temple here at least since this is Japan. Though it’s possible they might be on other floors.” Nozomi said to them.

“Only way to find out is if someone dies.” Nico spoke up.

Nozomi turns to Nico. “Maybe we should kill you and find out?” Nozomi joked.

“You even so much as lay a hand on me and I’ll break it!” Nico yelled. This just made Nozomi laugh however.

Eli notices the large metal cross in the center of the church. “Why is this thing so big…” Eli asked.

“Maybe God is compensating?” Nozomi joked once again.

“Well it doesn’t matter. There has to be a way out so let’s keep looking.” Eli suggested as she walked away from the cross.

Finally, Hanayo, Rin and Maki were in the kitchen.

“So. Much. Rice.” Hanayo said as she looked in the kitchen storage with awe. “Hey do you think anyone would mind if I took this when we get out of here?”

“I don’t think anyone would care.” Maki responded. “I am a little surprised however, Monokuma has left this much food here for us. I guess he really does plan to keep us here forever until we start killing each other.”

Hanayo sighed. “I really hope that doesn’t happen.”

“Don’t worry Kayochin! I’ll protect you nya!” Rin said as she hugged her best friend. “Nobody is going to hurt my Kayochin!”

Maki smiled seeing the two of them like that. “You two must be really close, huh?”

“Kayochin and I have been friends forever! Even before she got these nya!” Rin just straight up groped Hanayo.

“R-Rin!” Hanayo whined.

But Maki just laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that close with anyone. Definitely not enough to just grab their chest like that.”

That’s when Rin did it. She groped Maki’s chest. “Now we can be close!”

“What the hell!? R-Rin, get off of me!” She pushed Rin away, which knocked her to the floor.

Rin just laughed. “Okay, now you and Kayochin should grab each other! That way we can all be close friends!”

Maki and Hanayo just look away from each other awkwardly.

The full hour passed and everyone met up in the Gymnasium again. Dia stood at the podium where Monokuma once stood. “Attention! Mari, Kanan and myself were unsuccessful in finding a way out. However, we did find a locker that when touching it, shocks you. We cannot get it open, however, I feel it is unimportant anyway. While also looking around, we discovered that there are five labs on this floor. Those belong to my sister, Ruby along with Maki, Kotori, Hanayo and Rin. Everyone’s dorm room is on the way to the kitchen and dining hall.”

“Then if there’s no way out, what should we do?” Chika asked.

“This is ridiculous, how is there no way out?” Yoshiko asked.

“We can’t stay here forever, can we…?” Hanayo said while looking quite down. Ruby then approached Hanayo and gave her a hug.

“Don’t worry Hanayo, I’m sure we’ll find a way out of here.” Ruby said to her smiling.

“Ruby…” Hanayo looked back at her and then smiled herself. “Yeah, you’re right!”

“Ruby! Don’t hug strangers like that!” Dia scolded her.

“E-eh but sis!”

“Enough! I’d like to make a rule if anyone is willing to listen.” Dia said to everyone.

“It’s not a rule on hugging, is it?” Nozomi asked.

“No it is not. I’d like to make a rule that we meet in the dining hall every morning at 8am, that way we can be sure everyone is still alive each morning. Does everyone agree to this?”

Everyone agreed.

“Very well then, please go check out your dorms. We’ll meet again in the dining hall in the morning. Dismissed!”

With that, Monokuma’s killing game had begun.


	2. Chapter 1 - Daily Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has now been introduced to the killing game. But will any of them actually play it?

Chika entered her dorm room. Almost immediately as she did, she noticed so many things around the room. She decided to take a look around. There was a bed, a nightstand, a closet, a bathroom with no door and a desk with a photograph of her, You and Riko on the beach.

“Hey, I remember this photo…” She said to herself as she looked it over. She opened the desk drawers and saw plenty of paper and pencils stored away in them. Then she moved to the closet door and opened it. Inside were many of the outfits she wore regularly. There was even a dresser in the closet. She pulled out one of the drawers to find her underwear and socks. “Ugh, I hope that weird bear didn’t touch all of this stuff… Then again, there’s no other way that it could have gotten here.” She just shrugged and closed the drawer.

She decided to check out the bathroom. The first thing she noticed was that there was no door, or even a shower. Just a toilet and a sink. “Really? No shower and no door? Well I suppose this is my dorm room, so it isn’t a big deal but still… If there’s no shower, how am I meant to take one? I wonder if everyone’s room is like this. I guess I’ll find out in the morning. For now, I guess I’ll learn about my new classmates using this e-handbook thingy.” Chika made her way to her bed and hopped onto it and took out the handbook.

She turned it on and viewed her own profile first. “Let’s see here…”

**_Name_ ** _ : Chika Takami _

**_Talent_ ** _ : The Ultimate ??? _

**_Age_ ** _ : 16 _

**_Date of Birth_ ** _ : August 1st, 20XX _

**_Height_ ** _ : 157cm (5’2”) _

**_Weight_ ** _ : 116lbs _

**_Bust_ ** _ : 82 _

**_Likes_ ** _ : Mikan _

**_Dislikes_ ** _ : Coffee, shiokara _

“Ugh how does he know all this information? There is absolutely no reason he should know my weight and bust size! I bet he’s some weird pervert or something.” She started swiping through the other profiles, stopping once she came across Riko’s.

**_Name_ ** _ : Riko Sakurauchi _

**_Talent_ ** _ : The Ultimate Pianist _

**_Age_ ** _ : 16 _

**_Date of Birth_ ** _ : September 19th, 20XX _

**_Height_ ** _ : 160cm (5’3”) _

**_Weight_ ** _ : 114lbs _

**_Bust_ ** _ : 80 _

**_Likes_ ** _ : Hard boiled eggs, sandwiches _

**_Dislikes_ ** _ : Green pepper _

“Yep, all of this is accurate. I’m really starting to wonder how he knows all this. We definitely didn’t give him the information. This is all so creepy…” Chika put the e-Handbook down out of disgust. She laid back on her bed. “I wonder what my talent is and why I’m not allowed to know… Man I really hope all of this is a dream. There’s no way one of us would kill another, right…?” Chika quickly drifted off after that.

The next morning, a loud announcement was heard.

“Good morning students! The time is now 8am, night time is officially over!” Monokuma’s voice surrounded the room and it immediately woke Chika up upon hearing it.

“Is it morning already…? Wait a sec, I’m still here? I guess it wasn’t a dream after all.” Chika got up from her bed. “I could really use a shower right now… But I guess it’ll have to wait. For now, I’ll just use the bathroom and then meet everyone in the dining hall.”

Chika quickly did her business and then made her way to the dining hall. As she entered she saw Dia, Ruby, Mari, Eli, Hanayo, Rin and Kotori. “Good morning.” Chika said after yawning and then sat down. “Nobody else here yet?”

“Not yet. Even though they should have been here by now.” Dia said angrily.

“Sis it’s only 8:05, give them time.” Ruby responded.

“Maybe some people just hooked up? You never know~” Mari giggled.

“Mari, don’t speak of such things with Ruby around.” Dia demanded.

“We can’t expect everyone to be at the exact right time. I think we can give fifteen minutes until we start going to people’s rooms to check if they’re there.” Eli spoke.

“Yeah some people just like to sleep in, nya!” Rin said happily.

“Yeah I know Honoka likes to sleep in a lot.” Kotori told them.

“I try to be up early, but sometimes I oversleep because I’m up late at night watching videos on idols or reading about them.” Hanayo explains.

“Hehe, that’s okay Hanayo, we all like to sleep in.” Ruby said to her, smiling. “Besides, I think you should be able to get as much sleep as you like.”

“That’s…”

“My my, I think someone has a crush on little Hanayo here.” Nozomi said giggling as she entered the dining hall.

“Do not think such perverted things Nozomi! My sister doesn’t have crushes!” Dia retaliates.

“Sis please that’s so…” Ruby just went quiet after that.

“I Yohane, The Ultimate Demon has arrived!” Yoshiko yells the moment she enters. Suddenly, she’s hit on the head. “H-hey!”

“Knock it off, zura.” Hanamaru said yawning as she too entered.

“Hanamaru why are you being so mean!”

“I’m not being mean, zura. You’re just too loud…”

“I think all of you are being too loud.” Kanan said as she walked past both Yoshiko and Hanamaru. “It’s way too early to be so loud.” Kanan takes a seat at the table. “So does anyone have a shower? Because I don’t.”

“I don’t either!” Chika said.

“Neither do sis and I.” Ruby told them.

“Seems like none of us do.” Eli sighed. “We can’t go forever without showering.”

“Yeah my hair will get all messy.” Kotori said, saddened.

“I have no shower and a broken toilet.” Yoshiko mentions. “Anyone else's toilet broken?” She asked. Everybody just shook their head. “Wait just mine!? This is so unfair! I badly need to go!”

“You can use mine if you want.” Honoka said putting her hand on Yoshiko’s shoulder.

“Honoka? I love you! Can I go now?” Yoshiko practically begged her.

“Yeah I’ll take you there now!” Honoka said as she and Yoshiko left the dining hall so that Yoshiko could use her bathroom.

Then Umi, Maki, Nico, You and Riko show up. Everyone is present and accounted for, well, except Honoka and Yoshiko. But they returned rather quickly.

“Good, now that everybody is here.” Dia said as she stood up. “I think we can all agree that we don’t want to participate in this killing game. There’s nothing Monokuma can do to make us kill each other, so let’s try to not fall for any of his traps.”

“As if I’d let some bear tell me what to do.” Nico sighs. “I’m meant to have a show this weekend with A-Rise, I just want to get out of here.”

“Then it’s good to know that you’re the most likely to kill, so if anyone dies, you’ll automatically be suspected.” Kanan said to her.

“What good would killing anyone do? Even if I did kill someone and got away with it, do you really think I’d have the energy to perform in front of millions of people?”

“Nico is right, she would never do such a thing.” Hanayo agreed.

“Chill, I was just throwing a jab at you, is all. I know none of us are going to kill each other.” Kanan sighed.

“It’s good that we aren’t planning to kill each other and all, but what exactly should we do?” Chika asked.

“I guess continuing to find a way out would be a good idea?” Riko suggested.

“No. We’ve endlessly searched this place, there is nowhere to escape. So we must think of a long running plan to make Monokuma think we’ve given up on escaping.” Dia explained.

“And what would that plan be?” Mari asked her.

“We live a normal life here. Everyone will be assigned a job and we’ll stick to it.” Dia suggested.

“Jobs? I was a sailor, I don’t think there’s anything else I’d be any good at doing, except swimming, but I don’t see how that would be useful here.” You responded.

“I-I could cook. I’m mostly a baker, but I can cook normal things too.” Ruby suggested. “Though I’ll need at least one person helping me out.”

“Hey Kayochin, you like to cook don’t you?” Rin said to her.

“Me? W-well yes, I do. But I mostly make rice, but I suppose I could help out. But I also hear Nico is a good cook?”

“...How do you know that?” Nico asked.

Nozomi giggled. “Isn’t it obvious Nicochi? She’s The Ultimate Fangirl, she probably knows everything about you.”

“I guess that makes sense, but she better keep most of that stuff to herself.”

“I wouldn’t dare say anything. So will you also help us?” Hanayo asked Nico.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to help out.”

“I guess I could take care of anything medical related. So if anyone is sick or anything, I can help out.” Maki offered. “Though I’ll want at least one nurse.”

“I don’t know if I’d be a very good nurse, but working in a dojo, I know how to patch up minor injuries.” Umi told her, offering her help.

“Okay great, you can help me out then.”

“I’ll help out too. I’m sure my bedside manners will be very helpful to you.” Nozomi said while giggling.

“I mean, I guess having two nurses can’t hurt.”

“How about laundry duty?” Honoka asked.

“I don’t mind doing laundry!” Kotori offered. “But doing the laundry myself for eighteen people… That’s a lot of clothes.”

“No worries, I’ll help you out, I don’t mind.” You said, giving her a thumbs up.

“I’d like to work security if possible.” Eli spoke up. “While I don’t think anyone here is going to kill someone, I still think it would be a good idea for people to keep watch. Perhaps even having shifts. I’d like to recruit Rin and Kanan too, since both of you are athletes, I feel you’ll be useful in case we need to chase someone down.”

“I think that could be a good idea. I’m not exactly the fastest runner, but I’m strong enough to pin someone down and hold them there. So if Rin can at least catch them, then I can hold them down.” Kanan agreed to help.

“Nya! Sounds good to me, I’m happy to help!” Rin seemed excited.

“I was thinking at least six hour shifts each. That way we can cover at least most of the day. Having more than six hours though would be exhausting on the body, so unfortunately a particular time of day will be unmanned.” Eli suggested.

“Not necessary, I too will act as security. I may not be as athletic as you three, but I’m no pushover.” Dia told them. “We’ll cover six hours each, that way all twenty four hours of the day will be covered.”

“Sounds good then. We’ll go with that.”

“We need cleaners too, this place will become a mess if we don’t take care of it.” Dia spoke. “So I suggest the remaining people help with that.”

“Can I do laundry instead? Only a demon has the right to touch my clothes, and I’m the only demon here.” Yoshiko asked.

“Very well then, you may help with laundry. That settles it then, everyone has their jobs.”

**Cooking**

Ruby, Hanayo and Nico

**Laundry**

Kotori, Yoshiko and You

**Security**

Dia, Kanan, Eli and Rin

**Medical**

Maki, Nozomi and Umi

**Cleaning**

Chika, Honoka, Riko, Hanamaru and Mari

“This is great and all, but what about showers? None of us have them in our rooms, and Yoshiko’s toilet is broken.” Kanan brought up the topic. “Eventually this place is going to stink with so many of us here.”

“Let’s just try to get through today first.” Chika sighed. “Hopefully we won’t be here long enough to even need a shower. This is our first real day here and I’d rather we deal with that since it won’t be easy.”

“Chika’s right! Let’s just have some fun today and maybe we can all bathe in the pool tomorrow!” Mari suggested.

“As much as I don’t like the idea of people bathing in the pool, Mari, that’s the best idea we have.” Kanan agreed. “If possible then, I’d like to take the first security shift, is that okay with you, Dia, Eli, Rin?”

“Kanan can take first shift, Rin second shift, Eli third shift and then I’ll take the final shift since I’m up early anyway.” Dia stood up. “Okay everyone, get to work! There shouldn’t be much to do today, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find work to do!”

“We’ll start breakfast then, okay?” Ruby said to Hanayo and Nico and the two agreed. The three of them stood up and made their way to the kitchen.

“Umi, Nozomi, let’s go find a place to designate the doctor’s office and set it up.” Maki told them.

“Any idea where a good place might be?” Nozomi asked.

“Well… I was thinking about my dorm room.”

“Your dorm room?” Umi asked, a little confused.

“I’d rather keep everything in there, so that nobody can sneak in and take anything without me noticing. I’d either have to be in there, or I’d have to bring them in with me.”

“Seems like a safe enough place then!” Nozomi agreed. The three of them left the table to set up.

“Then, Riko, Honoka, Hanamaru and Mari, how about we split up and look for some cleaning supplies? We don’t have much to clean right now, but getting those ready would be a great start before breakfast.” Chika suggested to them. All of them liked the idea and they all split up to take a look around.

“I’ll go check the kitchen to see if there’s a few boxes we can put some dirty laundry in, that way it’s easier to keep track of everything.” Kotori suggested.

“Let’s meet in the pool then once you’ve gotten it. Yoshiko and I will go ahead and wait there for you.” You said as she stood up.

“Okies, I’ll see you there then!” Kotori said as she made her way into the kitchen. Once she stepped in, she saw Ruby and Hanayo cooking, while Nico sat around. “Nico? Are you not helping them?”

“Nothin’ for me to do right now. So I figured I’d let them two do the work. Besides, those two seem to get along pretty well.”

“Hehe yeah, I think it’s safe to say, despite what Dia says, Ruby has a crush on Hanayo. I mean just look how close the two of them are.”

“I don’t think I could fit a finger between them, they’re essentially stuck to each others hips.”

“Ah young love~” Kotori giggled and then started looking around for a box.

Some time passed and everyone ate breakfast together, all in all, despite the situation, breakfast seemed to keep everyone’s mind off of the whole killing game thing. Ruby and Hanayo made fried rice with some pork for everyone.

After breakfast, Maki, Ruby, Kotori, Hanayo and Rin all went to their respective labs, being that they were the only ones available at the moment.

Maki’s had tonnes of medical supplies. From medicine, syringes, scalpels, scanners, medical books and even some poisons. It even had a hospital bed someone could use. Maki browsed everything and then went back to her room and took out the pencils and paper that appeared to be in everyone’s room. Then she started taking stock of every item in her lab, that way she’d know if something went missing.

Ruby’s had lots of cook books, ingredients, utensils, ovens, microwaves, kettles, various teas and coffees, sodas and many other cooking supplies. This was essentially a second kitchen. Ruby was unsure as to why there was a kitchen along with all of this, but she wasn’t going to complain, she had so much more stuff she could do in here.

Kotori’s had sewing machines, knitting needles, different types of fabrics, various types of clothing, ribbons and tonnes of thread. Pretty much everything she’d need to repair or make some outfits. She immediately got to work in checking to see what there was so she could plan out some outfits to make.

Hanayo’s had a large TV, idol dvds, posted and even some figures of idols. Upon looking around, she noticed that there were also signed photos of idols she had never met. So she took a close look at the signatures, and to her surprise, all of them seemed legit! This was heaven for her. She decided she’d check out some of the dvds in her new collection.

Rin’s room had a lot of workout equipment, mostly related to running, such as a treadmill. But there were also weights, chain weights, an energy drink vending machine, yoga mats and a radio she could listen to music from. It was essentially just a gym at this point. But Rin was happy with all this. She may be The Ultimate Trackstar, but she liked to dabble in other types of workouts too.

Over the next couple of days people would get to work. Chika, Riko, Honoka, Hanamaru and Mari would clean all around the school except in individual dorms and labs, since everyone was keeping those clean themselves. Well, some, where at least. Kotori would collect clothes from the dorm rooms and labs and then You and Yoshiko would wash them in the pool. Ruby, Hanayo and Nico would take turns cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dia, Kanan, Eli and Rin would take shifts to walk around the school. Maki, Nozomi and Umi would give people check ups to make sure they’re still healthy.

The students seemed peaceful for the time being. Three days passed without any incidents. But that did not sit well with Monokuma. One morning, after everyone had met in the dining hall for breakfast and roll call, Monokuma’s voice came onto the intercom.

“Why hasn’t anyone killed anyone yet? This is sooooo boring! This is a killing game! Not The Sims for crying out loud!”

“We already told you, nobody here is going to kill anyone!” Chika yelled back.

“I uh, don’t think he can hear you.” Eli said to her.

“Yes I can, you dumb blonde!! Fine, if you won’t kill anyone, then how about this? I’ll turn all the water off and play that pesky dial-up tone from the nineties over and over again until someone dies!”

“W-wait you can’t turn our water off! How else are we supposed to live?” Dia yelled.

“You’re not! That’s the point! No water means no drinking, no working toilets, no washing clothes or bathing as I’m also draining the pool. Good luck dealing with that while this annoying sound plays over and over! Upupupu!” Monokuma started playing the sound. “It’ll get louder and louder as time passes! All you’ve got to do to stop is to kill someone upupupu! When a body is discovered, I’ll turn the water back on and turn off this annoying sound. Bye!” Then Monokuma cut out.

“This is insane…” Dia sighed. “Now what?”

“We hold off.” Chika told her.

“What do you mean hold off? We’re all going to die of dehydration if we do nothing!”

“Not true! Monokuma wants a killing game, right? He doesn’t want all of us dead, he just wants one of us dead. So if we ignore everything he’s doing and go about our daily lives, he’ll eventually turn it off so we don’t all die. Because if we do, he gets no killing game! Not that he’s ever getting one anyway.”

“Chika that sounds really tough but… I’m with you on this.” Riko was determined to beat Monokuma at his own game just like Chika.

As the day passed, Rin and Ruby were handing out the drinks from their labs, clearly Monokuma hadn’t thought this through completely. Everyone was staying hydrated and getting by just fine. However the dial tone kept getting louder and louder. It was difficult for everyone to deal with, but they managed to keep pushing through.

The next day, all the drinks from Rin’s and Ruby’s lab were suddenly gone. It seemed like Monokuma had fixed his mistake. But by this point, everyone had already begun to sweat. Not because they were too hot, but just because they couldn’t clean themselves. But they still pushed through.

On the third day since this whole thing started, the dial tone was so loud, people could barely even speak to each other without having to yell. Most people spent time in their rooms, because they couldn’t even speak to each other. All they did was show up to the dining hall for roll call and then return to their rooms.

On the fourth day, it went pretty much the exact same as day three. However… during roll call, someone didn’t show up.

“Ugh, where is Mari? She’s over twenty minutes late.” Dia said frustrated.

“I’m getting a little concerned, maybe we should go check her room?” Kanan suggested.

“What?” Dia couldn’t hear her.

Kanan stood up to yell. “I said let’s go check her room!!”

“Oh yes, let’s go and do that!” So Dia and Kanan went to Mari’s room to see if she was there. But there was no response.

“Maybe she can’t hear up?” Kanan said to Dia.

“Hmm, maybe, but I’m still worried. Let’s get everyone to split up and look for her just in case she’s around.” Dia told her.

“Got it.” Kanan ran back to the dining hall and explained the situation.

Everyone split up and began to search for Mari, in small groups. Dia stayed outside of Mari’s room in case she came out, so that way she could call off the search if need be.

Chika, Riko and You were in the swimming pool searching for her. “Where could she be?” Chika asked.

“M-maybe she’s still in bed?” Riko suggested.

“Or maybe… Maybe she’s dead…” You threw the idea out there.

“You! Don’t say stuff like that! We all agreed that we wouldn’t do that!” Chika yelled at her.

“I know that Chika, but take our circumstances into consideration. We have to yell at each other just to talk! That starts becoming difficult if you’re dehydrated! It could have pushed someone over the edge to do something bad!”

“I-- I just… I can’t believe anyone would do such a thing…” Chika started to cry. Then the three of them heard the door slam open. Nozomi stood there crying.

“Y-you three, come quick!!” She yelled and then ran back out of the room. Chika, You and Riko quickly followed Nozomi to the church… Where they saw a grisly sight. The body of Mari was strung up on the large metal cross. Her body was practically charred. She had been burned to death and hung on the cross.

Ding dong, bing bong!

An announcement rang! Monokuma’s voice spread around the entire school as the dial up tone stopped playing “A body has been discovered! I’ll give you some time to investigate, and then a class trial will begin. Have fun~”


	3. Chapter 1 - Investigation

“Th-this-- This isn’t possible!” Chika yelled. “We all agreed that we wouldn’t kill anyone, didn’t we!? What the hell!?” Chika began to cry, her emotions were out in the open for everyone to see.

Riko wrapped her arms around Chika. “I-it’s okay Chika, we’ll figure out what happened and we’ll end this killing game, I promise!” However, Chika was still struggling to hold back her tears. She couldn’t stop crying.

That’s when Dia and Kanan entered. They both saw Mari tied to the cross. “M-Mari…?” Dia slowly walked up to her. “N-no… H-how?” Dia’s eyes were wide with shock. Behind her, Kanan fell to the floor in anger.

“Who did this!? Who the  _ fuck  _ did this!?” Like Chika, she was also crying and yelling. Both she and Dia couldn’t believe the sight in front of them. Who could have killed their best friend?

“Sis!” Ruby called out as she Hanayo and Nico ran into the church. That’s when Ruby saw Mari and she gasped. “M-Mari!?” Dia quickly turned around to see Ruby. She ran to her and pulled her into a hug.

“D-don’t look Ruby! You don’t need to see this!” She said to her sister, who was in shock. But I think everyone in the room could tell that Dia was the one in shock. Both her and Ruby fell to the floor and cried in each others arms.

“This is so messed up.” Nico said, seeing this sight. “I can’t say I’m surprised someone got murdered but… This is messed up… Someone burned her to death!?”

Rin, Hanamaru, Yoshiko and Kotori came in next. They all stopped in their tracks when they saw Mari. None of them even knew what to say, so they remained quiet. Then finally, the rest arrived. Everyone was there now.

Kanan stood up and began to yell. “Monokuma! Get your ass out here right now!”

Monokuma suddenly popped up on top of the cross. “Upupupu, you called?”

“You did this, didn’t you? All because we wouldn’t play your stupid game!” Kanan yelled at him.

“As if! It’s not much of a killing game if I kill them now, is it? That’d be boring! Besides, what benefit would I have to kill one of my players? For one, you’d never figure out it was me, and if it was me, then the game would be over instantly! The killer was one of you students!” Monokuma laughs. “I’ll give you one hour to investigate and then a class trial will begin. I suggest instead of weeping and yelling, you do some investigating and find the real killer of Mari Ohara, The Ultimate Affluent Progeny! In fact, allow me to give you the case file~”

**Monokuma File #1**

**Victim** : Mari Ohara

‘The time of death was around 4am last night.’

‘The body was found hung to the cross in the church by chains.’

‘The victim was killed right here in the church.’

After handing out the case file, Monokuma disappeared once again. Maki looked over the file. “She died at 4am, most of us would have been in bed by then. Seems she was killed right here.” Maki said and then put the case file away. “With everyone’s permission, I’d like to examine the body, while I do that, maybe everyone else should take a look around to find anything that might be a clue into Mari’s death.”

“Come on Chika, let’s go find Mari’s killer.” You said to her.

“I can’t! I won’t believe somebody killed Mari, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Chika…” Riko was concerned, Chika was taking this hard.

“Stop acting like that isn’t possible!” Dia yelled, which got everyone’s attention. “Somebody killed Mari, and acting like nobody did is just going to get us all killed! As much as this hurts me too Chika, we don’t have time for this. I want to find Mari’s killer! I want them to feel her pain when we do! I don’t care who it is!”

Chika wiped away her tears and stood up. “Y-you’re right Dia… This is for Mari. We’ll find who did this and then we’ll make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

“Then let’s all split up like Maki suggested, we’ll stay in groups of three. That way nobody can try and hide evidence.” Dia ordered. With that, everyone split into groups of three.

**Group #1**

Chika, You, Riko

**Group #2**

Ruby, Hanamaru, Dia

**Group #3**

Honoka, Umi, Kotori

**Group #4**

Hanayo, Rin, Kanan

**Group #5**

Nozomi, Eli, Nico

Maki and Yoshiko remained with the body in order to examine it. Chika, You and Riko decided to check out Mari’s room first. It had apparently been unlocked all of a sudden. When they entered, they at first didn’t see anything amiss.

“Hmm… Everything seems fine here honestly.” Riko said as she looked around. “Should we maybe try somewhere else?” She asked.

“No, we can’t stop investigating an area so quickly just because it looks fine. We need to take extra care and search every inch of this room.” Chika explained.

“Chika’s right. There might be something in here that points to the killer, even if it is something minor. Let’s leave nothing unturned, okay?” You agreed. So the three of them began to look through Mari’s room and belongings.

Riko decided to check the closet first, where she found a whole bunch of fancy clothes that Mari didn’t seem to wear the entire time they were here. Riko really liked them and honestly wanted to take them, but she felt that it would be rude to take the belongings of the dead. So she decided not to.

You checked the bathroom. It was surprisingly spotless there. She didn’t find anything in particular that would be useful. But she still looked around to see if she could find anything. Despite knowing the water was off, she attempted to flush the toilet. To her surprise it actually flushed. “But the water shouldn’t be back on yet, right?”

Chika decided to check Mari’s drawers, and that’s when she came across something strange. A small piece of paper with the word ‘Church’ written on it, and what seemed to be a time, which read ‘03:50’. “Hey you guys, I think I found something!” She called out to the others and the two quickly came over. “Look at this, Church 03:50. Maybe the killer invited Mari out to the church?”

“If that’s the case, then this murder was likely planned.” You said. “I can’t make out this handwriting though, can you, Riko?”

“Hmm, it’s hard to say who owns it. It seems like it’s written with someone’s weaker hand. However, even if it wasn’t, I don’t think we could tell who it is because we don’t know anyone else well enough.”

“Maybe not, but we could get writing samples in the trial or before it?” Chika suggested.

“Yes, while that would be a good idea, again this is written with the person’s weaker hand, making it difficult to determine even with everyone’s handwriting samples.”

“Yeah you’re right… But this is still good evidence, so we’ll take this to the trial with us.” Chika put the piece of paper away in her pocket. “Okay let’s try out somewhere else. Any suggestions?”

“Well, where would one found something that they could burn someone to death?” Riko asked.

“The kitchen maybe?” You suggested.

“Alright, let’s check out the kitchen!” Chika said as she left the room to make her to the kitchen.

When they arrived, Ruby, Hanamaru and Dia were searching the kitchen. Seeing Chika, You and Riko enter, the three turned around. “Find anything?” Dia asked.

“Ah yes actually, I think we might have discovered how Mari and her killer met up!” Chika said as she pulled out the piece of paper. “Look here. It’s a time and place!”

“Good find Chika!” Dia feigned happiness. She was happy Chika found it, but she’s still trying to process everything.

“Have you three found anything here?” You asked.

Hanamaru sighed. “I’m afraid not. I thought that since Mari was well… You know. That the kitchen might be a good place to search.” She explained.

“It was a good idea but nothing seems to be out of place here.” Ruby told them.

“That seems fairly odd… Where else would one get the supplies for burning someone?” Riko said, pondering other options. “Have you checked if anything has been used?”

Ruby nodded. “We have but… Nothing is different. Everything Hanayo, Nico and I have used to cook the last few days has been consistent. Although… There is one other place we can maybe check!” Ruby got really excited. “Maybe someone went into my lab and stole some stuff from there? I haven’t been there at all today, so it’s possible!”

“Fantastic thinking Ruby! Come on everyone, let’s go check it out!” Dia said as she made her way to Ruby’s lab.

Upon arriving in Ruby’s lab, the six of them could easily smell the stench of dried blood. “Th-this is a little overpowering zura…” Hanamaru said as she covered her nose. The six immediately split up to look around the lab.

“Hey, I think I have something!” Riko called out as she was checking the trash can. “Look, a used bottle of peanut oil. Have you used this Ruby?”

Ruby shook her head. “N-no I haven’t.”

“Ruby is allergic to peanuts, if she used that she could get really sick. Besides, is that even flammable?”

Ruby nodded. “Y-yes, with a lighter you could set it on fire quite easily.”

“Do you have lighters here?” You asked.

“Yes! There are a few here actually, small ones and oven lighters.” Ruby said as she made her way towards a drawer with the lighters in them. “Hm?” She picked up one of the over lighters. “I-I think this one has some blood on it!”

Chika ran over to take a look. “It’s just a drop but… Yeah, that’s blood!”

“Um… You guys… I found something.” Dia said to them. She was checking a separate trash can and pulled out a mallet covered in blood. “Th-this is covered in blood!” She immediately dropped it back into the trash and stepped back. “Wh-- But why? Wasn’t she burned to death!?”

Hanamaru walked over to check it out. “Hey look zura, there’s blonde hair on the mallet.”

“What’s a mallet doing here in the first place?” Chika asked.

“The mallet can be used to knead the dough with… In fact I used that just a couple of days ago when I baked that cake.” Ruby explained.

“Okay, I think the killer was definitely in here.” You told them as she pulls out blood stained aprons from the sink. “Whoever it is tried to wash the blood off of these and did a terrible job.” You tilted her head. “But why are there two here?”

“Tried to wash them? But the water has been off for days now, how is that possible?” Chika asked.

You sniffed them. “Well, I don’t think it was with water, there’s a strong smell of ammonia.” She sniffed again. “E-ew… I think this is urine…”

“U-urine!?” Ruby gagged.

“I’m just gonna…” You immediately put the aprons back in the sink.

“Hey can you three keep checking out this room? We’re going to search elsewhere.” Chika told them. They agreed to and Chika, You and Riko left to go check out somewhere else. They decided to check out the library, where they ran into Honoka, Umi and Kotori. “Hey, you guys find anything yet?” Chika asked as she entered the library.

“Nothing yet. I think we should go check somewhere else, I don’t think we’re gonna find anything here in the library.” Honoka sighed.

“Honoka have patience! You wanted to give up two minutes after coming into the room. I know you’re too lazy to read, but this is important!” Umi said scolding her.

“Ehe, sorry about those two, it’s always like this with them.” Kotori apologized. “Did you three find anything?”

Chika nodded. “Yup! We found a note that might be the killer inviting Mari out, see?” She showed the three of them the piece of paper.

“Why is the handwriting so bad?” Kotori asked.

“We believe whoever wrote this, wrote it with their bad hand.” Riko explained.

“But that’s not all we found. In Ruby’s lab there was a whole lot of evidence. A bloody mallet, an empty peanut oil container that she hadn’t used, a lighter with a drop of blood on it and some bloody aprons.” You told them. “Seems like the killer raided Ruby’s lab first before doing anything.”

“I guess that would make sense, considering she would have all of the supplies necessary in there to do what someone did to Mari.” Umi said.

“Yeah a lab with cooking supplies is just asking for someone to get killed…” Honoka said.

“H-Honoka, that’s a terrible thing to say!” Kotori yelled at her.

“N-no no that’s not what I meant! I just mean kitchen utensils can be used in a variety of ways, killing included!”

“Anyway--” You began to speak but was cut off when Yoshiko showed up in the room.

“Hey you guys come on, Maki wants to talk to all of us in the church!”

“Did she find something?” Honoka asked.

“Yeah, something big!” Yoshiko said as she ran from the room, the others quickly followed her to the church.

Within minutes, everyone had gathered at the church, where Maki waited for everyone to arrive. As they did, she was bagging up a grain of rice and a pink thread. She stood at the top of the church once they had. “Okay, I found two things. One is definitely a key piece of evidence, the other may or may not be.” She told them.

“And what are they?” Honoka asked her.

“Firstly, I don’t think Mari was burned to death.”

“How is that possible? Are you saying she didn’t die when she got burned to zura?” Hanamaru asked her.

“No, what I’m saying is, she was dead before that.”

“How do you know?” Kanan asked.

“There is an injury on her head. My guess was that she was killed with a blunt object. Something rounded. I can’t confirm it however as I don’t have enough time to properly examine her, so my guess is, that was the killing blow.”

“Yeah I think that makes sense.” Riko said.

“Why’s that?” Maki asked her.

“Well we found a bloody mallet.” She explained.

“A bloody mallet…? That could be the murder weapon. However I--” Maki was interrupted when Monokuma’s voice blared through the church.

“Time’s up! Everyone please meet at the gymnasium and take the elevator in the centre of the room down to the basement! The class trial is about to begin!” And then he cut out.

“W-well, this is it I guess.” Chika gulped. She was scared.

“No time to waste, let’s go!” Dia ordered.

All seventeen of them made their way to the gymnasium, where they saw an elevator in the middle of the room. This elevator wasn’t there before, or at least it was still in the floor when they were last here. Nervously, they all stepped onto the elevator and it started to move downwards.


	4. Chapter 1 - Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I did will for my first trial. If you have any suggestions to improve on it, please let me know!

As everyone stepped off of the elevator, they saw a courtroom. Everyone had a podium with their names on it, arranged in a circle. There was even a place for Mari, which just had a portrait of her in her place.

Kanan and Dia walked to Mari’s portrait. “Is this really necessary, Monokuma?” Kanan asks him.

“Upupupu~ No, but I want it there.”

“I’m going to remove it.” Dia said as she reached out to grab it. However…

“Don’t you dare touch it!” Monokuma yelled. “If you attempt to move it, you’ll be killed!”

Dia stopped in her tracks and sighed. Then she and everyone else moved to their assigned places.

“Now allow me to explain the rules. In this trial you will have to determine whodunnit! At the very end, we’ll take a vote! The vote won’t be unanimous, but majority rules. However! Should the wrong person be chosen, then all of you except the blackened will be killed! The blackened will then be free to go home. If you guess correctly, then only the blackened will be killed! Now without further ado, let’s get this class trial started!!” Monokuma explained to everyone Now was the time for them to find Mari’s killer.

“Okay, which one of you did it? Just say it now so we can end this right here and now!” Dia asked the group. However she got no responses. “So nobody is going to fess up? Whoever you are, you killed my best friend and I’m going to find out which one of you did it!”

“Are we positive it wasn’t Monokuma who did it?” Honoka asked.

“Definitely not! I already told you, I won’t get involved in this game! It’s no fun that way! You stupid bread lover!” Monokuma yelled at her.

“Then if Monokuma didn’t do it… It has to be one of us… right?” Riko asked.

“I hate to say it, but yes, it was one of us. We just have to determine which one of us!” You responded. “We need to work together to do this. So I suggest we bring up the time of death first. The Monokuma file said that it was 4am, right? Dia, Kanan, Rin, Eli. Which one of you were on duty at that time?”

“Which one us, nya? That was Dia.” Rin said.

“Sis was? Is that true?” Ruby asked, a little confused.

Dia sighed. “Yes, that’s true. I was indeed on guard at 4am. I had two hours left on my shift before Kanan took over.”

“And what was the schedule for security?” You asked.

“The schedule? I believe it was… Kanan from 6am-12pm, Eli from 12pm-6pm, Rin from 6pm-12am and then myself from 12am-6am.” Dia explained to the rest of them. “Are we positive the time of death was at 4am?”

“Yup yup yup! I saw the whole thing go down!” Monokuma confirmed.

“Then logically, doesn’t that mean that Dia should be the killer?” Yoshiko added.

“Me? Why would that mean it’s me?”

“Well duh, isn’t it obvious? You were the only one up at that time! There would be no witnesses to the crime if it was you, so it just makes sense. Zuramaru, back me up on this!”

Silence.

“Zuramaru? Why aren’t you backing me up?” Yoshika asked.

“Who is Zuramaru?” Kanan asked. “I’m pretty sure nobody has that name here.”

“It’s Hanamaru!” Yoshiko yelled.

“Why am I Zuramaru?”

“Because you say zura all the time and your name is Hanamaru!”

“Then why don’t you call me Hanazura? I think that sounds cute.” Hanamaru giggled.

“No! That sounds super lame and unfitting for the name of one of my little demons.” Yoshiko scoffed.

“Little demons?” Kotori asked.

“Yeah! I have decided to recruit Zuramaru to be one of my little demons. I don’t choose my little demons lightly!”

“Ooo can I be a little demon!?” Kotori asked excitedly.

“No way! You need to earn it first!”

“Aww…” Kotori looked disappointed.

“Um, I think we’re getting a little off track here…” Hanayo pointed out.

“Kayochin is right! Let’s move onto a different subject nya!” Rin yelled.

“Hold on! I’m not finished accusing Dia yet!” Yoshiko commented. “You have to be the culprit! You claim it wasn’t you, but you would have at least seen or heard something happening!”

“It’s possible she was on the opposite side of the school from where the murder was taking place. It’s very possible she didn’t see or hear anything from there.” Umi explained.

“Dia, where were you at 4am?” Eli asked her.

“W-well I was… I was around the corner from the church…”

“Then it's settled, it has to be Dia!” Yoshiko demanded.

“N-no that’s not--!” Dia was starting to panic.

“Dia did you really do it?” Honoka asked her.

“No I--”

“If it wasn’t you, then how did you not see or hear anyone?” Kotori asked.

“I-I-”

“Stop it!” Ruby yelled.

“Zura?” That shocked Hanamaru. She’d never heard Ruby yell like that before.

“It wasn’t sis! I won’t believe that it was sis, it’s impossible!”

“No it isn’t! It’s definitely possible! Dia did it!” Yoshiko retorted. “You would have seen or heard someone if that’s the case!”

“No I swear, I didn’t!”

“Do you have proof of that?” Nozomi asked Dia. “If you do, then it’d be a good idea to tell us now.”

“I…” Dia looked at Ruby.

“Tell them sis!”

“F-fine… I was slacking on my duty. I wasn’t actually by the church.” She gulped. “ I was…” She looked at Ruby again.

“Tell them…”

“I was… Tucking Ruby into bed.”

“Wh-what?” That took Yoshiko by surprise.

“Isn’t she a little old for that, nya?” Rin asked.

“I-it’s true I am but… I get scared of the dark quite easily so sis comes in to check on me every thirty minutes and tucks me back into bed…” Ruby’s face was the same colour as her hair. She was incredibly embarrassed.

“W-well regardless of that! Wouldn’t she have still heard something? I mean the church is not far away from the dorms!” Yoshiko yelled once again.

“No. There’s no way Dia could have heard.” Chika finally spoke.

“Chika?” Riko said as she looked at her.

“Think about it. How could Dia possibly hear it, if none of us would have?”

“But Dia would have been awake, whereas we were asleep.” Honoka told her.

“But then shouldn’t Ruby have heard it too?” Kotori asked.

“That’s well… Then, how did both of them not hear it? Maybe they’re covering for each other!” Yoshiko suggests.

“Oh I get it now!” You spoke. “I see what you’re getting at Chika. Please, continue.”

“Dia and Ruby couldn’t have heard the murder taking place because of the dial-up tone. Remember, that stayed on until we discovered Mari. It was definitely loud enough to block out the sound of Mari screaming in pain!”

“I disagree.” Maki spoke up.

“What exactly do you disagree with?” You asked her.

“A human scream definitely would have been heard from across the hall, even with the sound playing.” Maki explained.

“So it was Dia!” Yoshiko shouted. “I was right! Ruby is just covering for her!”

“I didn’t hear anything, and I didn’t kill my best friend!” Dia snapped. “Why would I kill my best friend? It makes no sense!”

“Monokuma, if you would, could you play the sound again as loud as it was last night?” Maki asked him.

“Hm? What for?”

“I am going to stand outside of this room, and I am going to scream.”

“What good will that do?” Hanayo asked.

“That’s roughly the same distance from right here, as Ruby’s dorm room would have been from the church. If you can hear me, then that will prove that Dia and Ruby could have easily heard the scream. So please, Monokuma, if you would.”

“Hmm, okay then!” Monokuma turned the sound back on as loud as it was the night before. Maki left her podium and walked outside of the room, closing the door behind her. She inhaled as much air as she could and let out as loud a scream as she could. The entire courtroom could easily hear it. It wasn’t as deafening as the dial-up tone, but they could definitely hear it.

Maki walked back in and Monokuma turned off the sound. “There, did that prove my point?” Maki asked.

“W-well yeah it did, but doesn’t that just confirm my point even further that Dia did it?” Yoshiko asked her.

“If that’s what happened, then yes. But it didn’t.” Maki responded.

“What do you mean?” Chika asked her.

“Did all of you forget what I said before we came into this trial?” Maki asked the group.

Chika thought about this. She was trying to remember what Maki said. “Ah, right!” It suddenly hit her. “You said there was a wound on her head, right?”

Maki nodded. “That’s right.”

“So what are you saying exactly?” Eli asked her.

“I’m saying neither Dia nor Ruby heard anything, because the cause of death was not burning, but blunt force trauma to the back of the head.” Maki explained.

“So you’re saying Mari didn’t die at 4am?” Kanan asked.

“That will depend on one more question for Monokuma.” Maki turned to look at Monokuma. “Did Mari really die at 4am? Did you lie in the case file?”

“Upupupu, you’re a smart one, aren’t you? But no, I didn’t lie! Mari died at exactly 4am, not a minute earlier, nor a minute later!”

“Okay so Mari did die at 4am, what difference does that make?” Nico asked. “We already knew that she did, so why even ask?”

“N-Nico’s right. What was the meaning of that question?” Hanayo asked.

“Well, if it’s true that Dia was tucking Ruby in at 4am, then she couldn’t have been in the church at the exact same time. That is, unless Ruby is lying. But I think there’s someone here who can prove that’s not the case.” Maki explained.

“Like who?” Yoshiko asked.

“The one you call Zuramaru.”

“Z-Zuramaru!?” Yoshiko was shocked when she heard that. “Why her in particular?”

“Because I was there, zura.”

“Wait what? You were there?” Dia said, completely surprised. “I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if you were there Hanamaru!”

“Why are you getting angry at her? She’s your alibi, isn’t she?” Nico asked.

“Because, I don’t like it when people lie! Even if it’s to help me!”

“What kinda bullcrap is that!?” Yoshiko asked angrily. “I still think you’re guilty, but why wouldn’t you just agree that you saw her there!?”

“Because Dia is The Ultimate Moral Compass.” Chika pointed out. “I’m guessing not lying falls within that as well as following the rules, right?”

“That’s right Chika! Now Hanamaru, please retract that statement!” Dia yelled at her.

“I can’t zura, because it’s true.”

“It is not!”

“Y-yes it is…” Ruby said quietly. “You didn’t see her because… She was hiding under the bed.”

“Hiding up the bed? Oh my~” Nozomi giggled. “How scandalous.”

“Were you two doing lewd things together?” Kotori asked.

“N-no it’s nothing like that!” Ruby retorted. “Th-the reason Hanamaru was in my room was because… Th-the same reason as Dia… Sorta.”

“To tuck you in?” Riko asked.

“Not quite she was um… U-u-u-um…”

“Spit it out!” Nico yelled.

“Eep!” Ruby ducks down to hide from Nico.

“I was being her teddy bear.” Hanamaru told them.

“Her teddy bear…?” Chika asked.

“She wanted someone to cuddle with, so we lay in bed together. Whenever Dia came by I hid under the bed zura.”

“Ruby, why didn’t you tell me?” Dia asked her.

“B-because you would have gotten angry because she wasn’t in her dorm room at night time. Th-that would have been against your rules. We didn’t want to make you angry. I also didn’t want to make you come in to me more than you had to because I was scared of the dark, so I asked Hanamaru to keep me company until I fell asleep.”

“No! That’s wrong!” You chimed in.

“E-eh? H-how is it wrong?”

“The rules clearly state that you have to sleep in your own room at night! Therefore, Hanamaru couldn’t have spent the night there or else Monokuma would have punished her.” You explained.

“Actually, that’s wrong.” Kanan spoke up. “It never states in the rules that you have to sleep in your own dorm room. Please read the rules again You.”

You took out her e-handbook to reread the rules. She read over them again and saw rule #10: ‘ _ Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly. _ ’ You then sighed. “Shit sorry, you’re right. It doesn’t specify that you need to stay in your own room, just that you must sleep in a room. Sorry about that.”

“Right. So I believe that exonerates Dia, Ruby and Hanamaru from being the culprit.” Kanan tells them.

“Actually no, it doesn’t. Sorry, but thinking about it I can’t believe it does.” Chika speaks up.

“What do you mean?” Kanan asked her.

“I’m not claiming Ruby is the one who did it, but we did find a bloody mallet, bloody aprons and an empty peanut oil container in her lab. Like I said, I’m not saying she, Dia or Hanamaru had any involvement in the murder, but there are a lot of things that suspiciously point to them.” Chika explained.

“I-I…” Ruby is speechless.

“I agree with Chika. We can’t quite rule them out.” Riko agreed. “I don’t want to think any of them did it but… We have to at least consider it, do we not?”

“Actually, would it even be possible for Ruby to do it nya?” Rin asked.

“What do you mean?” Riko responded.

“Well think about it. Look at Ruby. Take a close look nya!” Everybody looked at Ruby. “Do you see why I’m saying she couldn’t do it?”

“...She’s too short.” Chika realised that in order for someone to be able to put Mari up on the cross, not only would they need to be at least close to Mari in height, but would also need to be able to lift someone of Mari’s weight.

“Exactly nya! You got it!”

“By that logic, Zuramaru is innocent too. She’s even shorter than Ruby.” Yoshiko pointed out. “Which means everything still points to Dia!”

“Would you stop blaming me!” Dia yelled at her.

Kotori shook her head. “No, didn’t you hear before Yoshiko?”

“It’s Yohane.”

“Okay then, didn’t you hear before, Yohane? Dia has an alibi, both Ruby and Hanamaru saw her at 4am.”

“Couldn’t they just be covering for her?” You suggested.

“Yes, it’s a possibility, but considering how terrified Ruby was to tell her sister that Hanamaru was there, makes me think they’re not covering for her.” Kotori explained.

“Hmm… Well, I guess that makes sense.” Yoshiko conceded.

“Then can we get back to the topic at hand?” Umi asked. “The mallet, aprons and container were all found in Ruby’s lab. Meaning whoever killed Mari must have snuck in there at some point.”

“And I know who.” Maki spoke up.

“Wait really? Who?” Umi asked.

“Hanayo Koizumi.”

“Wh-wh-wh-what!? N-no, I-- Why would I!?” Hanayo asked, panicking.

“Yeah, there’s no way Kayochin would!” Rin yelled at Maki.

“Have you got anything to back that up, Maki?” Chika asked her.

Maki nodded. “Yes actually I do.” Maki pulled a little clear bag from her pocket and held it out for everyone to see. “Behold, your proof.”

Everyone stared at the bag. “...There’s nothing in there.” Nico told her.

“Yes there is. Take a closer look.”

Nico squinted, but she could finally see what Maki was talking about. “A grain of rice? What about it?”

“I found this at the scene of the crime. It was only a couple of feet away from the body.”

“N-no, I didn’t put that there!”

“Y-yeah, there’s no way Hanayo would!” Ruby yelled.

“Is it really any surprise you’d say that though, Ruby? I mean, even if you and Dia deny it, you have a crush on Hanayo. You’re not very good at hiding it. Even Yoshiko here would be able to tell.” Eli explained.

“Y-yeah, it’s true!” Yoshiko responded. However, she actually had absolutely no idea Ruby was into Hanayo.

“I agree with Elichi. I think it’s very possible that Hanayo did it.” Nozomi said. “Think about it, everything was found in Ruby’s lab right? Could it be possible that Hanayo was trying to pin the blame on Ruby?”

“But why would she?” Chika asked.

“Because she knows that Ruby is into her. She could manipulate everything to make it seem like Ruby was the one who did it.” Eli explained.

“There’s no way Hanayo did! She wouldn’t, she’s too nice!” Ruby yelled back.

“And that just proves our point.” Eli said sighing. “Ruby would never believe that Hanayo did it. Therefore, Ruby is never going to suspect her. Which is just going to make everyone think it’s Ruby once again.”

“But we already determined that Ruby couldn’t have done it anyway because she was too short.” Chika pointed out.

“That’s our point. Ruby didn’t do it. Hanayo did. How else can you explain the rice being there?” Nozomi asked.

“W-well I… Hmm…” Chika thought about it.

“No way! No way! No way! Kayochin didn’t do it!” Rin yelled with tears in her eyes.

“Sorry, but I don’t buy Hanayo doing it either.” Kanan said. “Hanayo may be taller than Ruby, but only barely. Compare their heights in your handbook.”

Everyone quickly took out their handbook to check the difference in their heights.

**_Name_ ** _ : Hanayo Koizumi _

**_Talent_ ** _ : The Ultimate Fangirl _

**_Age_ ** _ : 15 _

**_Date of Birth_ ** _ : January 17th, 20XX _

**_Height_ ** _ : 156cm (5’1”) _

**_Weight_ ** _ : 126lbs _

**_Bust_ ** _ : 82 _

**_Likes_ ** _ : White rice _

**_Dislikes_ ** _ : None _

**_Name_ ** _ : Ruby Kurosawa _

**_Talent_ ** _ : The Ultimate Baker _

**_Age_ ** _ : 15 _

**_Date of Birth_ ** _ : September 21st, 20XX _

**_Height_ ** _ : 154cm (5’1”) _

**_Weight_ ** _ : 108lbs _

**_Bust_ ** _ : 76 _

**_Likes_ ** _ : French fries, sweet potatoes _

**_Dislikes_ ** _ : Wasabi _

“As you can quite clearly see, there is a two centimeter height difference. The two are way too close in height. If Ruby couldn’t do it, then neither could Hanayo.” Kanan explained.

“Not true.” Maki retorted.

“How is that not true!?” Kanan asked her.

“Look at how Mari was tied up. It was with chains. Where could she have gotten those chains?”

“Oh my, Hanayo are you secretly into bondage?” Nozomi asked giggling.

“Wh-what, no I’m not secretly into it!” Hanayo responded.

“Oh so you’re openly into it?” Nozomi giggled again.

“N-no!”

“What’s your point on this Maki?” Riko asked her.

“One of you here knows where she could have gotten those chains. But I know that person won’t speak up.” Maki told them. “But if they don’t say anything, then I will.”

Silence surrounded the courtroom.

“From my lab…” Rin said quietly.

“Oh so Rin is the one into bondage?” Nozomi asked.

“No! They’re used for weight lifting.” Rin told them. She was starting to worry.

“Then couldn’t Rin have done it?” Nico asked.

“Why would she?” Maki asked.

“The same reason you said Hanayo did it. To set up Ruby!” Dia responded.

“Then explain the grain of rice?” Eli said to them.

“Wait that’s… What does that have to do with anything!?” Dia asked her.

“Look, we’ve gotten to know each other for the past few days. Hanayo always eats rice at meals. Large bowls of them too. My guess is a piece of rice fell onto her clothes and remained there until it fell off as she was murdering Maki. She used the chains to pull Mari onto the cross and tied her there.” Eli explained.

“Then why couldn’t Ruby do that?” Riko asked.

“Because.” Nozomi spoke up. “Hanayo has been working out with Rin in her lab almost every day. My guess is she saw them there, and was planning her murder upon seeing them. I don’t think Ruby did for a couple of reasons. One, she has an alibi with both Dia and Hanamaru, and secondly has Ruby ever even entered Rin’s lab?”

“Stop this! Hanayo didn’t do it!” Ruby yelled at Nozomi. “Stop accusing her okay! I-it was me…” Ruby sighed. “I killed Mari. It was me…”

“What!? No you didn’t Ruby!” Dia yelled at her. “Take it back!”

“Nah, not buying it Ruby. You didn’t do anything to Mari, and I know exactly why you didn’t. I know three things that would have made it impossible to do it.” Nico told her.

“How do you know that?” Kotori asked.

“Okay well firstly, do you really think Ruby would kill someone in hopes of getting out of here if it meant the deaths of her sister, her best friend and her crush? Secondly, why would she kill her sister’s best friend? Even if she got caught, do you really think she’d hurt her sister like that? And thirdly, now this is the clincher. It’s quite obvious at this point that peanut oil was used as the flammable liquid to set Mari on fire. It would be impossible for Ruby to do that.”

“How so?” Riko asked her.

“Because the first day we got here, I helped both Ruby and Hanayo cook in the kitchen. Ruby is allergic to peanuts, going near the stuff would have at the least, caused a rash. That rash wouldn’t have gone away so quickly.” Nico explained.

“...That’s right. She did say that while we were in her lab and found all of the stuff like the mallet and all that!” Chiak responded. “So Ruby is innocent!”

“Then what of Hanayo?” Eli asked.

“That’s even easier. Have any of you ever paid attention to Hanayo when she eats?” Nico asked.

Rin immediately perked up.

“She never wastes a grain of rice. Not a single one. She cleans that bowl and any leftovers we have too. Therefore, my biggest fan is innocent too!” Nico declared.

“Then… Was it Rin?” Yoshiko asked.

“Sorry Rin, I can’t get you out of this one. I don’t know you well enough.” Nico told her.

“Hold up. Are you all just forgetting that Ruby confessed?” Kotori asked.

“Of course she did zura, her crush was about to get blamed for it. Ruby is a sweet girl. She wouldn’t want her crush to die. So she tried to take the blame zura!” Hanamaru explained.

“Not sure if I can buy that completely, but let’s move on. It could have been Rin then, since her chains were found there.” Kotori said.

“I actually don't think she did.” You responded.

“Care to explain?” Maki asked.

“I can’t really prove it, but doesn’t that all seem a bit complicated for Rin? I don’t mean to offend you Rin, but you’re not the brightest. Going by all of this logic, Rin put the blame on her best friend Hanayo, and tried to make it seem like Hanayo was blaming Ruby because of her crush? The way everything was set up just seems too far fetched for Rin. Again, I don’t have any solid proof, but that’s just what I believe.”

“I am inclined to agree with You. I don’t know Rin very well either, but from the little I do know of her, I just can’t see her thinking that far ahead. Not even just because she’s not all that bright like You said, but I can’t believe she’d pass the blame onto her best friend. I agree, Rin is innocent.” Riko speaks up.

“I’ve known Rin since we were in elementary school. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had. She always protected me from bullies and stood up for me since I never could stand up for myself. She has always been there for me. So I’m sorry, but I can’t believe that she would betray me like this. I stand by You and Riko, Rin is innocent!” Hanayo told them.

“I too think Rin is innocent! If Hanayo trusts Rin that much, then I do too!” Ruby told them. “I know you’ll just blame this on me having a crush on her, but from how I’ve seen them together, I’m inclined to believe Hanayo!”

“I have no reason to accuse Rin for the same reasons. I may not like the idea of my little sister having a crush on someone, but Ruby knows genuine people when she meets them. Therefore, I too am siding with You, Riko, Hanayo, Ruby and Rin. I think she’s innocent.” Dia spoke up.

“I trust You’s and Riko’s judgement on this. If they say Rin is innocent, then I do too.” Chika said, smiling.

“Same here. I’m with them too.” Kanan spoke up.

“You guys…” Rin teared up with tears of joy. “Thank you so much!”

“I suppose that does make sense…” Umi said quietly.

“Yeah…” Honoka agreed. “If it’s not Dia, Ruby, Hanamaru, Hanayo or Rin, then who is it exactly?”

“But we have no other leads to go by. There’s still no proof that Rin is innocent other than word of mouth.” Eli explained. “I’m sorry, but we can’t rule it out completely.”

“Actually… I think we can.” Maki sighed.

“How so?” Kotori asked.

“I was about to mention this before Monokuma called the class trial, but do you remember what I was saying just before the announcement?” Maki asked them.

Chika thought back to what Maki was saying. “You said… ‘A bloody mallet…? That could be the murder weapon. However I--’” Chika responded. “You never got to finish what you were saying, did you?”

“So you think the mallet isn’t the murder weapon?” Umi asked.

“I don’t. Though, I do think that Mari was hit with the hammer before dying and that it wasn’t faked to confuse us.”

“Then what was the murder weapon?” Honoka asked her.

“There was none.”

“But you said earlier that she wasn’t burned to death.” Kotori said to her.

“Because she wasn’t.”

“Then spit it out already! How did she die?” Yoshiko asked her.

“She was suffocated.” Maki responded.

“Smoke inhalation?” Riko asked her.

Maki shook her head. “No. I wish that were the case for Mari’s sake, but I’m afraid it was worse than that. It would mean she would have died painlessly. However the way she died was far from painless. It was quite brutal.”

“So you’re saying she was likely strangled?” Kanan said to her.

“I don’t think it’s likely. In fact, I’m positive. I think I know exactly who did it too.” Maki said smiling.

“W-wait you figured it out?” Chika was surprised.

“You make it sound like you’ve known from the beginning.” Kanan said to her, looking kinda angry.

“I did. I was hoping the killer would slip up here in this trial. Unfortunately, she’s smarter than I thought.”

“Then why did you blame Kayochin?” Rin asked her.

“I wanted to see how the culprit reacted to her plan seemingly working.”

“Her plan?” Riko confused.

“Remember that grain of rice? It was planted at the scene of the crime to frame Hanayo and make people this Hanayo was framing Ruby. All just so she could take all the attention away from herself and confuse everyone.”

“Then who was it?” Honoka asked.

“Kotori.” Maki told her.

“Me? How exactly did you come to that conclusion?” Kotori asked her, shocked at being accused.

“With this.” Maki reached into her pocket and pulled out yet another small bag from her pocket. “This pink thread was found in Mari’s mouth.”

“It’s a pink thread. How does that prove it was Kotori?” Umi asked her. “That’s not enough proof to go off of!”

“Yeah! You’ll need more than that!” Honoka agreed with Umi.

“I believe Kotori attempted to kill Mari with the mallet from Ruby’s lab. Believing she was dead, she hung her up on the cross to set fire to her and make us believe she was burned to death. But that plan didn’t work out, did it Kotori? Why? Because the blow to the head didn’t kill Mari, she woke up before you could set fire to her.”

“But what has that got to do with the pink thread!?” Honoka yelled at her. “How does Mari waking up lead to Kotori being the culprit! A pink thread means nothing!”

“No… Maki’s right, I think I get it.” Chika spoke up.

“And how is that exactly?” Umi asked her.

“Because Kotori is The Ultimate Seamstress!”

“How does that lead to me strangling Mari?” Kotori asked her.

“Ah Chika gets it. Do you want to do the honours of explaining why you think Kotori did it then?” Maki asked her.

“I hate that I have to do this… But for Mari and for everyone else, I will.” Chika clears her throat. “Okay this is how I think it happened. During dinner yesterday, Hanayo and Ruby made fried rice. I believe during that time, Kotori already had plans to murder Mari and she took a grain of rice with her to pin the blame on Hanayo. Later that night, Kotori slid this note under Mari’s door.” Chika pulled out the note they found in Mari’s room. “This note, while written with the writer's weaker hand, had a time and place. My guess it was a when and where to meet. Either before or after writing that note, Kotori had snuck into Ruby’s lab to get the mallet. When Mari showed up at the church later that night, bam! Kotori clocked her in the back of the head which knocked her out cold. But Kotori assumed she had died. Unfortunately for Kotori, Mari survived the hit. At this point, Kotori was planning to burn Mari so that she could throw us off from the true cause of death, which she believed had already been done. She returned to Ruby’s lab to discard the mallet in her trash can and then grab the peanut oil and lighter. During this time, Dia and Hanamaru would have already been in Ruby’s room. Kotori had used this opportunity to be able to sneak around and not get caught. However, after grabbing the peanut oil and lighter, Kotori realised something important. Mari’s head would be bleeding. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to wash it off if any blood landed on her clothes or hair, she had no choice but to grab two aprons. One to wrap in front of her and one behind her. She took these because she knew it would be likely that Mari would bleed out on her while she was trying to put her up on the cross. Before returning to Mari however, Kotori had to collect one more thing. The chains from Rin’s lab. How did she know about these? Kotori worked laundry duty. She was constantly going into people’s rooms and labs to get dirty clothes to wash. I’m sure You and Yoshiko--”

“Yohane.”

“Yohane, could back me up on this. Rin’s lab is right next to Ruby’s lab, so she quickly slid in there to grab them. When she returned to Mari, something unexpected happened. Mari woke up! Kotori, trying to think fast before she screamed, quickly grabbed the ribbon from her hair loop and stuffed it into Mari’s mouth so she couldn’t scream. Because as Maki proved earlier, we would have been able to hear it. After shoving the ribbon in Mari’s mouth, she began to strangle her. Normally, this would leave marks on her neck, but because Kotori burned her body, they were undetectable. While Mari was gasping for breath, she must have inhaled a thread from the ribbon, which funnily enough, just happens to be pink. Why do I say that? The day we all met, Kotori had a pink ribbon in her hair, the colour to that ribbon matches the thread perfectly. Finally, Mari passed and Kotori got on with the plan to tie her up. Once she had finished doing that, she set fire to Mari. Then she placed the grain of rice she had saved from dinner and placed it on the floor so we would think it was Hanayo who did it. Then she returned all the murder equipment back to Ruby’s lab, all while managing to dodge Dia. This wouldn’t be hard, because there is no way Dia would have heard footsteps with the dial-up tone playing. However, once she got back to Ruby’s lab, she couldn’t wash the aprons, which I don’t think was much of an issue for Kotori. She probably knew she wouldn’t be able to and instead dumped them in the sink. Then it got a bit weird, she then urinated on the aprons, I think that was to make it look like it was a poor effort to clean them. There was no water, so she tried to make us this Hanayo panicked and just peed on them to make them wet. I really don’t understand the purpose of doing that, when it would have had the exact same effect if she had just left them in the sink. After doing all of that, she went back to her room and acted like nothing had happened the next day. But her big mistake was not killing Mari with the mallet. That thread was enough for Maki to determine who it belonged to, and who the culprit was. Well, am I right, Kotori Minami, The Ultimate Seamstress?”

“K-Kotori…? Tell them they’re wrong.” Umi said to her.

“Yeah, there’s no way you did it, right!?” Honoka asked her.

Kotori remained quiet, however.

“Why!? Why did you kill her!?” Kanan yelled at her. “Answer me you monster!”

“...” Kotori refused to respond.

“Tell me!” Kanan yelled.

“I thought maybe I could save everyone by killing the mastermind of this killing game.” Kotori spoke.

“The mastermind?” Kanan asked her, confused.

“One of us has to be running this game, right? I think it’s likely one of us here. I believed it to be Mari, but… I guess I was wrong.”

“Why Mari?” Dia asked.

Kotori shrugged. “I don’t know… It was just a gut feeling.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that Kotori…?” Honoka asked.

“Because if I did, I know I wouldn’t have been able to go through with the murder. I had to do this to save everyone. I thought if we waited any longer, we’d have all died. I didn’t want the mastermind to win, so I took my chances and tried to take her out. But Mari…” Kotori began to cry and fell to her knees. “But Mari wasn’t the mastermind!”

“Kotori…” Umi ran to her and hugged, Honoka followed.

Kotori then turned to Dia, Ruby and Hanayo. “I’m sorry I tried to get people to blame you. I was hoping I could get the mastermind to reveal themselves by keeping this going for longer…” Then she turned to Kanan. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I killed Mari.”

Kanan clenched her fist and walked up to Kotori.

“Kanan, wait!” Dia called out to her.

But Kanan ignored her. Everyone thought Kanan was going to punch Kotori, but instead she put her hand out for Kotori to take. Kotori was a little surprised, but she took it and then stood up. “Kotori… I’ll make sure we find out who the mastermind is and end this god forsaken game. I promise yours and Mari’s death won’t be in vain.”

“Kanan…” Kotori said with tears in her eyes.

Dia then approached her. “Mari would have been proud to see you take the initiative on this. Even if that meant her death. But we promise to find out who is doing this, no matter what.”

Kotori smiled and nodded. Then she turned to her two best friends, Honoka and Umi. “I- I guess this is goodbye…”

“No, you can’t go, Kotori…” Umi said to her, crying.

“Y-yeah! We’re not going to let Monokuma hurt you!” Honoka told her.

“Oh? Are you going to fight me? Upupupu~”

“No stop it. Honoka, Umi, don’t do anything. The rules state we can’t hurt Monokuma.” Kotori told them.

“I don’t care! I’ll kill him anyway.” Umi said as she charged at Monokuma. Before she could get there though, Kotori tackled her to the floor.

“Umi please! Everyone needs you and Honoka. They need you to help defeat Monokuma…”

“But Kotori I-I… I need  _ you _ .”

Kotori smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll always be right here.” She placed her hand on Umi’s heart. “I may be physically gone, but I’ll live on, inside you and Honoka. Now promise me you’ll work to take out the mastermind, okay?”

“Kotori…” Umi couldn’t say anything else.

But then Honoka approached them and took both of their hands. “We’ll defeat Monokuma together.” She said smiling at Kotori. Umi followed suit. Neither would give up. They would defeat Monokuma no matter what.

“Okay this is getting boring!” Monokuma yelled. “Let’s move on. It’s puuuunishment tiiiiime!” Monokuma slams his hand onto a large red button. As he does this, a ribbon is tied around Kotori’s neck and she’s dragged up to the ceiling.

She’s hanging from the ceiling with the ribbon. She assumed that was it. That’s where she was going to die. But… Monokuma wasn’t so kind. A dozen knitting needles were fired at from all sides, piercing her body. Legs, arms, torso. Finally, one more knitting needle shot towards Kotori and pierced her neck. She began to choke on her blood. That’s when Monokuma cut the ribbon. Kotori fell and landed on a conveyor belt. Which was slowly moving towards a sewing machine. She moved very slowly towards it. She was feeling all the pain of the needles and even choking on her own blood. She was hoping to choke to death before reaching the machine. Unfortunately for Monokuma, that’s exactly what happened. This angered him and he dropped Kotori’s lifeless body in front of everyone.

“That stupid wretch! She died before the main event!” He yelled.

Everybody was shaken to the core. They needed to end this senseless slaughter before it got worse. They all glared at Monokuma while he laughed at them.


	5. Chapter 2 - Daily Life / Free Time

The class trial had ended. Everyone was still in shock. A couple of days had passed. Everyone would meet in the dining hall, first thing in the morning, but mostly sat in silence. However, despite what happened, Kotori had a wish. A wish everyone wanted to grant. Chika wanted to cheer everyone up after what happened. Particularly those that were directly affected by the trial.

Three days after the trial ended, Chika met with everyone as normal in the dining hall. The only one who was late was surprisingly Dia. “Hey Ruby, where’s your sister?” Chika asked her.

“She told me to tell everyone she’d be a bit late today as she had to do something, but wouldn’t tell me what…”

“I’m going to go look for her.” Kanan said, getting up from her seat. However as she was going to leave the room, Dia appeared.

“No need to look for me.” Dia said smiling. “However, I would like all of you to follow me to the elevator we took to the courtroom.”

“The elevator? Why?” Kanan asked her.

“You’ll see, just follow me.” Dia said as she began to walk towards the gymnasium. The others quickly got off their seats and followed. They all gathered in the gymnasium where Dia stood by the elevator.

“The morning after the trial, I came back to this elevator. It was then that I was confronted by Monokuma. He then revealed to me that he had unlocked the second floor for us.” Dia explained.

“The second floor?” You asked.

Dia nodded. “After each trial, Monokuma will unlock another part of the school for us. Or at least that’s what he told me.”

“Hold on Dia, you found out about this the morning after the trial and you’re only telling us now?” Yoshiko said to her.

“Yes, I wanted to investigate the floor myself first to make sure it was safe for everyone else. I have deduced that yes, it is safe. There are some new facilities here, some I’m sure you'll be happy to use.”

“Like what, zura?” Hanamaru asked.

“I discovered that there were three new classrooms, more labs, a dance studio, a garden a sauna and a communal shower.” Dia explained.

“D-did you say shower?” Riko asked.

“That’s right. I suggest we all go up and take a look around together.” Dia said to them.

“No thanks.” Kanan said as she walked away.

“Kanan…” Ruby frowned.

“Don’t worry Ruby, I’ll keep an eye on her. You guys go on ahead. I’m going to talk to Kanan.

With that, Dia ran off after Kanan. Everyone else stepped on the elevator and it went up one floor. As they arrived on the second floor and stepped out of the elevator, they appeared to be in a hallway.

“Well, I guess we should take a look around. I wonder who’s labs are available this time?” Chika said to the group. “Well, no point in standing around, let’s go take a look.” Chika said as she marched forward with a cheerful attitude. She figured, if she stayed positive, then it would infect everyone else and cheer them up too. It did seem to somewhat work. The only ones who were being quiet this entire time were Honoka, Umi and Ruby. But Chika was determined to cheer them up, no matter what. So everyone split up.

The first room they came across was You’s lab. Upon entering it, they found several boats, sailor uniforms, life jackets, chests, body flannels, a raggedy old bed, a compass, several parts for boats and a section of the room even had water. “So this is my lab huh?” You said as she began to look around. The first thing she decided to check out was the chest, which appeared to be unlocked. She opened it up and found lots of finishing equipment. A rod, a fishing weight, a tackle and even some live bait. “How are these things still alive?” She wondered.

“Wow You, all of this stuff is so cool!” Chika said as she walked around too. “I still remember that time we took a boat to a small uninhabited island.”

You laughed. “Yeah that was a long time ago. I think we were only like, what, ten?”

“Who brought you to the island?” Riko asked.

“Nobody. You ‘borrowed’ the boat from her dad and just the two of us went. We of course got stuck, but we made our way back thanks to You.” Chika told her.

Riko giggled. “As expected of The Ultimate Sailor.”

“I don’t see why there’s fishing gear here, it’s not like I can even fish in a school.” You said as she put the rod back. She continued to look around and decided to check out the pool of water in the room. Looking into it, she saw a whole lot of piranha. “Ugh really? The only fish here are piranha? They don’t even taste good. It’s also way too dangerous to keep them in here, what if someone fell in? They’d be eaten alive.”

“We have to make sure nothing like that happens!” Chika declared. “Nobody else will be harmed in this school!”

“Yeah!” Riko applauded. “Hey, should we go ahead and check out some other labs while we’re here?”

“That’s a great idea! C’mon You, let’s go.” Chika said, grabbing her hand.

“H-hey no need to drag me, I’m coming!”

The trio of them came across another lab, this one appeared to belong to Riko. The three of them step inside and immediately see a large piano in the center. On every wall of the lab, there are CDs, DVDs and music books. There’s a radio in the room along with a TV. There were also a couple of dresses on mannequins, fancy dresses. Ones that someone would wear to a piano recital.

“Woah this place looks super fancy!” Chika was amazed at seeing this lab. She immediately began to look at all the CDs and DVDs.

Riko seemed happy with her lab. She immediately went over to the piano and began to play Für Elise by Beethoven. Chika and You sat by the piano and listened intently. The sound of the piano caught the attention of both Nico and Maki and they arrived to the room and listened.

Riko finished playing her song. Chika, You, Maki and Nico clapped at her performance. But then Maki approached the piano too. “Perhaps I can join you?” She asked.

“Oh, you can play?” Riko asked.

Maki smiled. “I’m actually quite good. Do you know how to play Fantaisie-Impromptu?” Maki asked Riko.

“Yes, I do! Would you like to play it together?”

“I would love to.” Maki sat down next to Riko and the two began to play the song. This garnered the attention of some others. Nozomi, Honoka and Umi. Everyone listened to the two of them playing. Once the two had finished, everyone clapped once again.

“Wow you two are amazing!” Chika complimented them. “I wish I could play the piano like that!”

“Would you like me to teach you?” Riko asked her.

“Really? I’d love that!”

“Would you mind if I joined in on those lessons too?” Nozomi asked. “I’ve always wanted to play an instrument.”

“Sure! I’d be happy to teach you too!”

“Hey, let’s go keep looking around!” Chika suggests.

“Um, if you don’t mind I’d like to continue playing the piano.” Riko responded.

“Sure thing! You?” Chika asked her.

“Ah yeah sure, I’d like to see what else is around.” Chika and You got up and left Riko’s lab to continue looking around. Nico and Maki decided to go with them as well. They walked down the hallway and came across Yoshiko’s lab, where she, Hanamaru and Ruby were hanging out.

As they entered they noticed a large pentagram on the floor. Candles were all around the room, there were large bookshelves filled with black magic books. Chika also noticed that there were demon masks on the wall and several different cloaks. There were even some cursing dolls around the room.

“W-woah this lab is spooky…” Chika said, wide eyed.

“But of course! How fitting for The Ultimate Demon!” Yoshiko cackled.

Hanamaru sighed. “Why are we friends, zura?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Because it makes sense to want to be friends with the greatest fallen angel of all time!” Yoshiko declared.

Chika just laughed. “Wow you sure do have a lot of stuff in this room, huh Yoshiko?” She went to look at things individually. “Some of these masks are super cool!” She took a look at the masks specifically. A red, a blue and green oni mask, a tengu mask, a plague doctor mask, some animal demon masks and even a Guy Fawkes mask.

Honoka and Umi also entered. “Oooo, Kotori would have loved this lab!” Honoka announced as she entered. “So many cool cloaks! Hey hey can I try them on?”

“I-I’d prefer you not. You have to be a demon to wear those, or else you might die!”

“Ehhh? Come ooon, please!?” Honoka begged.

“N-no! They’re mine!”

Honoka whined. “I just wanted to try one on…”

“It’s like I said, you need to be a demon in order to wear them!”

“Come on Honoka, you don’t need to wear a cloak.” Umi told her, grabbing her and pulling her out of the room.

You took a quick look around. “Hey come on Chika, let’s check the other lab that opened up here.”

“Yeah I bet that one is super cool too!” Chika happily leaves Yoshiko’s lab with You and they move onto the next one which was Eli Ayase’s lab. It turned out that the dance studio and Eli’s lab were one and the same. There was a large area to dance, a large mirror on one side of the room and there were several different tutus and unitards in the room too. There were even several different types of dance mats too.

As they entered they saw Eli dancing, and she hadn’t noticed them enter yet, so Chika and You stood there watching. When she finished dancing, Chika and You clapped, which caught Eli off guard and she quickly turned around blushing. “H-hey, if you’re going to stand there and watch at least say something.”

“Ehe sorry!” Chika snickered. “But wow though Eli, you’re such a good dancer!”

“Ah, thank you. I’ve been dancing since I was incredibly young. I just had a natural talent for it I guess. It wasn’t something I intended to keep up upon entering high school, but my grandmother insisted that I did. I’m glad I decided to keep it up though.”

“I was never much of a dancer, but You and I used to dance a lot when we were younger!” Chika told her.

“More like you forced me too.” You laughed. “Although I’m looking at all of these outfits Eli, and they don’t all seem to fit you. There are some smaller ones and some larger ones.”

“Yeah I’m not sure what that is about, perhaps it’s just for if other people want to use them.”

“Are we allowed to?” Chika asked her.

“Of course! Anyone is free to enter my lab and dance to their hearts content if they want to. Just as long as people keep it clean, I have no issues with it. People can even use the outfits too as long as they get washed.”

“Aww you're so sweet Eli! Thank you so much!” Chika seemed excited. She always did like dancing, so maybe this was her chance to improve.

“I’m going to continue dancing for a little bit and then taking a shower in the communal shower. Feel free to join in at any point!” Eli said as she started dancing again.

“Hey Dia mentioned there was a garden too right? Why don’t we go check that out?” You suggested.

“Oh yeah, that could be pretty neat!” Chika responded as she began to make her way there. When she and You arrived, they noticed that Honoka, Umi, Hanayo and Rin were there. Hanayo was planting some seeds in the garden.

“Hey what are guys doing?” Chika asked.

“Hanayo is planting some seeds to see if anything will actually grow inside the school. Normally in these conditions they wouldn’t, but judging by all the plants here, they might. It especially helps that there’s a fake sky just above us.” Umi explained and then pointed upwards.

“Oh wow, yeah that might actually help out.” You responded and then looked around. “Hey what’s in the shed over there?”

“Oh there are some tools in there nya!” Rin told her. “But they’re all rusty and not super useful. Though the hoe works fine, so that’s what Kayochin is using!”

“Hey mind if I help?” Chika asked Hanayo.

“Sure! Feel free to start planting seeds around the place.” Hanayo told her.

“Got it!” Chika started to grab some seeds and plant them. Honoka, Umi, Rin and You also decided to help out.

After they all finished planting some seeds, they all collectively made their way to the communal shower. When they got there, they realized there was a changing room, a shower, a few toilets and even a sauna. Everybody was there with the exception of Dia and Kanan.

“What do you say we all take a shower and then get into the sauna?” Nozomi suggested. “I think we all deserve to relax a little bit, don’t you?”

Almost immediately Rin was stripping down. “Race you Kayochin!”

“R-Rin you shouldn’t run in the shower room, you’ll slip and hurt yourself.” Hanayo explained to her. Everyone then proceeded to take a shower and then get into the sauna afterwards.

Another day passed and everyone was in the dining hall having breakfast. Everyone seemed to be in a slightly better mood than they had been. However, that wouldn’t last long as Monokuma’s voice would come over the intercom.

“I see all of you are very happy upupupu~ Unfortunately, this is very boring for me, so why don’t all of you come to the gymnasium? I have something very important to show you!” And then he cut out.

Chika sighed. “Not again, I really don’t want to see Monokuma right now.”

“Neither do I…” Riko responded.

“Let’s just go get it over with.” Kanan said as she got up and made her way to the gymnasium. Dia got up and followed her, Ruby following close behind.

“I really hope this is nothing bad zura…” Hanamaru was concerned. After the loss of Mari and Kotori, nobody wanted to have to deal with Monokuma. They knew it would happen eventually, but that doesn’t mean they wanted it to happen right now.

“Even if it is, so what? We’re going to stop Monokuma, we just have to hold on a little longer!” Chika declared. “We won’t lose to Monokuma no matter what!” Everyone smiles at Chika’s response.

“Hehe, you’re right Chika! We’ll beat Monokuma easily!” Honoka said excitedly. “For Kotori and for Mari!” After that, everyone made their way to the gymnasium where Monokuma awaited them.

“Finally, you’re all here! Last time in order to get you to murder, I had to turn off the water and play that wretched sound! But I wonder what I should do this time…”

“You can go straight to hell.” Kanan yelled at him.

“Oh? That’s not very nice you know… That makes me sad Kanan…”

“I couldn’t care less if you’re sad or not! You’re a monster, and one of these days I’m going to tear your head off! I’ll find out who is controlling you, and I will end your life! Mari’s death won’t be in vain. No matter what you do to us, we’ll all work together, and we’ll defeat you, one way or another.”

“And it doesn’t matter how long it takes, even if we have to spend years in here, we don’t plan to lose to you Monokuma!” Dia also yelled.

“I usually don’t advocate for violence, but this time, I completely support it.” Umi tells him. “Monokuma, you may have bested us the first time, but we’ll defeat you. Kotori fought to protect all of us.”

“Upupupu, Kotori fought for you? But she killed one of you!”

“Only because she thought you were Mari!” Honoka told him.

Monokuma laughed at them. “Ho boy! You sure do know how to make a scene don’t ya? Well if you aren’t going to kill anyone, I’ll just have to give you a motive! As you can see before me, I have a very large box. One by one you’ll come up and take a piece of paper. Each piece of paper has someone’s secret on it. Maybe you’ll get lucky and you’ll get your own? But if you don’t you most certainly risk everyone finding out upupupu~”

“And what if we don’t take one?” You asked.

“Oh, well then I’ll just kill you myself. This is mandatory. Take one or die.”

“It’s okay! We’ll take one and then we’ll burn them!” Chika declared.

Monokuma laughs. “Nope! Destruction of these papers will result in your death, so don’t even think of that!”

“Fine then, we’ll take them and do nothing with them!” Chika retorted.

“We’ll see about that~ First of all, everyone will see their own secrets! Go ahead and check your e-Handbook, they’ll be there for ya!”

Chika goes to check hers. She sees her secret and her face blushes. “Wh-- This of all things?”

“Don’t share it! Not yet, at least~ Now come up and get someone’s secret~”

One by one, everyone goes up to take a piece of paper with someone else's secret on it. Before even looking at them, laughed again.

“If someone doesn’t kill anyone in forty-eight hours, then I’ll reveal all of the secrets to not only you, but the rest of the world~” Monokuma cackled once more and then disappeared. Everyone was quietly reading the secret they had selected. While some were really silly, some of them were serious.

Chika had picked out Dia’s, which read:  _ ‘Dia forgot her hall pass once because she really, really needed to use the bathroom. She just about made it!’ _ Chika raised an eyebrow. “There’s no way this secret would be worth killing over…” She spoke quietly.

“Let’s just go about our day and do nothing about these secrets. They’re not important.” Dia told them as she went to leave the gymnasium. Soon after everyone had scattered.

“Maybe I should go see how people are doing…” Chika said to herself.

**Free Time #1**

**Honoka**

Chika had decided to make her way to Honoka’s dorm room, just to check up on her. “Honoka, are you in there?” Chika called out.

“Coming!” Honoka responded. Honoka quickly made her way to her dorm room door and opened it. “Oh hey Chika! What’s up?”   


“Not much, I just thought I’d come and check how you’re doing. Do you mind if I come in?”

“Oh sure, come on in.” Honoka opened the door to let Chika in and then closed it behind her. “I brought some snacks and tea from the kitchen, would you like some?” She offered.

“Sure, I’d love some!” Chika said as she sat on Honoka’s bed. “Hey Honoka? How are you holding up? You know, without Kotori?”

“Well, I’m not really holding it together as well as it seems. But… Kotori wouldn’t want me to be feeling down. She’d want me to fight Monokuma. In order to do that, I have to stay positive and trust in the friends I have here.”

Chika smiled. “I’m glad to hear you’re staying strong. I’ll support you through this whole thing too, I promise. Together, all of us can defeat Monokuma and nobody else needs to die. You and Riko agree too, they want to defeat Monokuma!”

“Yeah Umi wants to help too! I don’t think anyone is ready to give up just yet.” Honoka handed Chika some tea and cookies. “I just wish we could find out who is controlling Monokuma. If we could find out, we could handle this much better.” Honoka sighed. “I really hate to say it but… It must be one of us, right?”

Chika thought about that for a moment. “I don’t know. We’ve all been in the same room together while Monokuma was being controlled, so I don’t think it can be one of us.”

“What if he was set to record and then play back once we were all together?”

“I doubt that too because he has responded to us multiple times.”

“That’s a good point… Thanks Chika, that actually makes me feel a bit better about the people around us.”

Chika smiled. “Ehe, no problem! Hey I have a favour to ask. How would you feel about us sharing our secrets?”

“Our own ones, or the ones we picked?”

“Our own ones, I don’t think it’s fair to tell other people’s secrets.”

“Yeah I think so too. I’d be happy to share mine.” Honoka said smiling.

“I’ll go first then. Mine was about the time when I was six years old and I fell in love with an orange and kept calling it my boyfriend and then it rotted away.” Chika laughed. “Embarrassing, but nothing worth killing over.”

“Mine was that I sometimes steal bread from my own store. But it’s only because I got hungry haha.” Honoka responded.

“Both of them are really silly, including the one I got.”

“The one I got… It wasn’t silly at all. In fact it’d be pretty bad if it got out. So I’m going to make sure it doesn’t get out, it’s only fair to the person.”

Chika took Honoka’s hand. “Honoka, you’re such a kind person. Keeping a big secret like that! I know people back home who would probably spread it around the moment they read it. They wouldn’t really care about the response either.”

Honoka blushed and then nodded. “Same here, I feel like if someone got hold of this secret that I got, it’d cause friction amongst the group. So I’m keeping it safe with me at all times. I’ll even put it somewhere nobody can get it.” Honoka pats her own chest. “In my bra!”

Chika stared at her and then laughed. “Haha well let’s hope nobody manages to get under there! But you know, that’s a great idea, I’ll do the same thing.” Chika puts Dia’s secret in her bra to keep it safe. “Now nobody will find it!” The two laughed together and spent some time hanging out. But Chika decided to take her leave. It was starting to get late, but she wanted to see one more person before she did.

**End of Free Time #1**

**Free Time #2**

**Kanan**

Chika had gone to Kanan’s room and got no answer. So she decided to go to the swimming pool to see if she was there. Chika was happy to find Kanan swimming. “Hey Kanan, got some time to talk?”

Kanan stopped swimming. “Oh Chika, it’s you. I guess I have some time, come on into the water with me, I still want to get my workout in.” She told her.

“Eh? But I don’t have a swimsuit with me, all I’ve got is my uniform.” Chika responded.

“Who cares? Take it off and get in here. It’s not like we haven’t seen each other naked before.” Kanan wasn’t sure why she said that. That made her think for a moment.

“Eh? I’m pretty sure we haven’t. You weren’t in the showers.”

Kanan looked up at Chika. “...Have we met before this?”

“I don’t think so? The only people I know here are Riko and You. I don’t think we’ve met before all of this.”

“Something about you feels so familiar… I have this memory of us spending time together at the beach. It feels like it was recently too.” Kanan told her.

Chika tilted her head. “I… I don’t think so…?”

“Hmm, maybe I’m imagining it, it just seems so vivid.” While Kanan continued to think about it. Chika had suddenly jumped into the water. “H-huh!? You decided to get in huh?”

“Hehe yeah! You’re right, it doesn’t matter if I have to get in here naked. We’re both girls so it’s no biggie!” Chika said as she began to swim.

Kanan laughed. “Yeah right? Not a big deal at all!”

The two swam together, having some short races, with Kanan winning by a mile every single time. The two decided to dry off and Chika had put her clothes back on. “Hey Kanan, I’m glad you seem to be in a good mood right now.”

Kanan smiled. “I only am thanks to you. Something about you seems so familiar and I just feel incredibly comfortable around you. So thanks for swimming with me. I needed someone to spend time swimming with and Dia never likes swimming so she always talks to me while I swim. But there’s nothing better than swimming with someone.”

“Any time! Swimming with The Ultimate Swimmer is a lot of fun. I bet that title must have been hard to obtain.”

Kanan laughed. “Yeah you could say that. I was slated to enter the Olympics next year, but unless we can get out of here, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“I’m sure we’ll get out of here!” Chika encouraged her.

“You know what Chika? You’re right. We’ll defeat Monokuma and get the hell out of here. But for now, I need to go take a shower and then return to my dorm. Was nice spending time with you, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Chika nodded. “Absolutely!”

Kanan left, so Chika decided she should probably return to her room too.

**End of Free Time #2**


End file.
